Vulnerability record · CVE-2009-1142 · published 23 November 2022

CVE-2009-1142: Vmware open vm tools link following vulnerability

Vmware · Open Vm Tools

An issue was discovered in open-vm-tools 2009.03.18-154848. Local users can gain privileges via a symlink attack on /tmp files if vmware-user-suid-wrapper is setuid root and the ChmodChownDirectory function is enabled.

6.7 CVSS 3.1 Medium EPSS 0.28% · top 79.0% CWE-59 · Link following

6.7CVSS 3.1 base score

0.28%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days

NoNot in CISA KEV

1Affected product versions listed by NVD

4References

16 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

1 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

Open Vm Tools Vmware

References

Link	Tags
https://bugs.gentoo.org/264577	Issue TrackingThird Party Advisory
https://github.com/vmware/open-vm-tools/releases/tag/2009.03.18-154848	Release NotesThird Party Advisory
https://bugs.gentoo.org/264577	Issue TrackingThird Party Advisory
https://github.com/vmware/open-vm-tools/releases/tag/2009.03.18-154848	Release NotesThird Party Advisory

Track CVE-2009-1142 inside VULONE

Watch it alongside the ransomware crews, C2 infrastructure and forum chatter that reference it, query it through the API and pull it into your SIEM over TAXII.

Start free Open in platform

Related vulnerabilities

Same products first, then exploited flaws of the same weakness class.

7.8CVE-2025-41244VMware Aria Operations and Tools local privilege escalation to rootVMware Aria Operations and VMware Tools contain a local privilege escalation flaw where a non-administrative local actor on a VM with VMware Tools in…KEVEPSS 16%analysed29 Sep 2025 7.5CVE-2023-34058Vmware open vm tools improper verification of cryptographic signature vulnerabilityVMware Tools contains a SAML token signature bypass vulnerability. A malicious actor that has been granted Guest Operation Privileges https://docs.vm…EPSS 0.81%27 Oct 2023 7.5CVE-2023-20900Vmware tools authentication bypass by capture-replay vulnerabilityA malicious actor that has been granted Guest Operation Privileges https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/8.0/vsphere-security/GUID-6A952214-0E5E-…EPSS 1.5%31 Aug 2023 7.0CVE-2023-34059Vmware open vm tools improper resource shutdown vulnerabilityopen-vm-tools contains a file descriptor hijack vulnerability in the vmware-user-suid-wrapper. A malicious actor with non-root privileges may be able…EPSS 0.40%27 Oct 2023 7.8CVE-2026-81963Windows Update Stack link-following privilege escalationWindows Update Stack resolves links improperly before accessing files, a link-following flaw (CWE-59) compounded by improper access control (CWE-284)…KEVEPSS 7.1%analysed8 Sep 2026 7.8CVE-2015-5287ABRT abrt-hook-ccpp symlink privilege escalationThe abrt-hook-ccpp helper in Red Hat's Automatic Bug Reporting Tool (ABRT) before 2.7.1 follows symlinks on files with predictable names, letting a l…KEVEPSS 5.0%analysed7 Dec 2015 7.8CVE-2026-41091Microsoft Defender link following allows local privilege elevationMicrosoft Defender's malware protection engine resolves links improperly before accessing files, a link-following flaw (CWE-59). A local attacker wit…KEVEPSS 8.2%analysed20 May 2026 7.2CVE-2024-57728SimpleHelp zip slip path traversal allows arbitrary file write and code executionSimpleHelp remote support software v5.5.7 and earlier lets admin users upload a crafted zip file that writes files anywhere on the file system via zi…KEVEPSS 64%analysed15 Jan 2025

Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2009-1142), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-11-14). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.