VMware Workstation (15.x before 15.1.0) contains a DLL hijacking issue because some DLL files are improperly loaded by the application. Successful exploitation of this issue may allow attackers with normal user privileges to escalate their privileges to administrator on a windows host where Workstation is installed.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2019-5526 is rated High Exploit Risk (79.1/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 9.03%, 95th percentile). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
| EDB-ID | Source | Kind | Published | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 46851 | exploit_db | edb | 2019-05-16 | Exploit-DB ↗ |
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 | 2026-06-23 | 9.21% | 9.03% | -0.18% |
| 2 | 2026-06-15 | 6.83% | 9.21% | +2.38% |
| 3 | 2026-04-15 | — | 6.83% | — |
Full EPSS history (40 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.8 | 3.0 | HIGH |
|
1.8 | 5.9 | [email protected] |
| 9.3 | 2.0 | HIGH |
|
8.6 | 10.0 | [email protected] |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| vmware | workstation | >= 15.0.0, < 15.1.0 | cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| URL | Tags |
|---|---|
| http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/152946/VMware-Workstation-DLL-Hijacking.html | Third Party Advisory |
| http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/108333 | Third Party Advisory VDB Entry |
| https://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2019-0007.html | Vendor Advisory |