CVE-2008-3431: Oracle VirtualBox Insufficient Input Validation Vulnerability

Severity: high (CVSS 8.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: yes — in CISA KEV since 2022-03-03
EPSS: 6.9% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: yes
Published: 2008-08-05 · updated 2026-06-16

Description

The VBoxDrvNtDeviceControl function in VBoxDrv.sys in Sun xVM VirtualBox before 1.6.4 uses the METHOD_NEITHER communication method for IOCTLs and does not properly validate a buffer associated with the Irp object, which allows local users to gain privileges by opening the \\.\VBoxDrv device and calling DeviceIoControl to send a crafted kernel address.

Affected products

Oracle Virtualbox: before 1.6.4 — fixed in 1.6.4

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Oracle Virtualbox 1.6.4. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

http://secunia.com/advisories/31361
http://securityreason.com/securityalert/4107
http://securitytracker.com/id?1020625
http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-66-240095-1
http://virtualbox.org/wiki/Changelog
http://www.coresecurity.com/content/virtualbox-privilege-escalation-vulnerability
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/495095/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/30481
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2008/2293
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/44202
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/6218
http://secunia.com/advisories/31361

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