CVE-2017-4898

VMware Workstation Pro/Player 12.x before 12.5.3 contains a DLL loading vulnerability that occurs due to the "vmware-vmx" process loading DLLs from a path defined in the local environment-variable. Successful exploitation of this issue may allow normal users to escalate privileges to System in the host machine where VMware Workstation is installed.

Published: 2017-06-07 Last update: 2026-05-13 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2017-4898 is rated Moderate Risk (46/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.11%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2017-4898

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2025-11-21 0.04% 0.11% +0.07%
2 2025-11-18 0.11% 0.04% -0.06%
3 2025-06-15 — 0.11% —

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2017-4898

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.8 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 2.0 6.0 [email protected]
6.9 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 3.4 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2017-4898

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2017-4898

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
vmware workstation_player 12.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation_player:12.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware workstation_player 12.0.1 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation_player:12.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware workstation_player 12.1.0 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation_player:12.1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware workstation_player 12.5.0 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation_player:12.5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware workstation_player 12.5.1 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation_player:12.5.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware workstation_player 12.5.2 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation_player:12.5.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware workstation_pro 12.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation_pro:12.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware workstation_pro 12.0.1 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation_pro:12.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware workstation_pro 12.1.0 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation_pro:12.1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware workstation_pro 12.5.0 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation_pro:12.5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware workstation_pro 12.5.1 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation_pro:12.5.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware workstation_pro 12.5.2 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation_pro:12.5.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2017-4898

cvelogic Threat Intelligence