CVE-2018-6977

VMware ESXi (6.7, 6.5, 6.0), Workstation (15.x and 14.x) and Fusion (11.x and 10.x) contain a denial-of-service vulnerability due to an infinite loop in a 3D-rendering shader. Successfully exploiting this issue may allow an attacker with normal user privileges in the guest to make the VM unresponsive, and in some cases, possibly result other VMs on the host or the host itself becoming unresponsive.

Published: 2018-10-09 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2018-6977 is rated Low Risk (38.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.43%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2018-6977

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 2026-06-15 0.07% 0.43% +0.36%
2 2025-11-21 0.05% 0.07% +0.02%
3 2025-11-18 — 0.05% —

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-6977

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 2.0 4.0 [email protected]
4.9 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 3.9 6.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-6977

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-6977

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
vmware esxi 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware esxi 6.5 cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:6.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware esxi 6.7 cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:6.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware workstation >= 14.0.0, <= 14.1.5 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware workstation >= 15.0.0, <= 15.0.2 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware fusion >= 10.0.0, <= 10.1.5 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:fusion:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware fusion >= 11.0.0, <= 11.0.2 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:fusion:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-6977

URL Tags
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/105549 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1041821 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1041822 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2018-0025.html Mitigation Vendor Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence