CVE-2024-25940: bhyveload(8) host file access

Severity: medium (CVSS 6.3 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.5% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2024-02-15 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-922

Description

`bhyveload -h <host-path>` may be used to grant loader access to the <host-path> directory tree on the host. Affected versions of bhyveload(8) do not make any attempt to restrict loader's access to <host-path>, allowing the loader to read any file the host user has access to. In the bhyveload(8) model, the host supplies a userboot.so to boot with, but the loader scripts generally come from the guest image. A maliciously crafted script could be used to exfiltrate sensitive data from the host accessible to the user running bhyhveload(8), which is often the system root.

Affected products

FreeBSD: before 13.2; from 13.3 before 14.0; 13.2-p1, 13.2-p2, 13.2-p3, 13.2-p4, 13.2-p5, 13.2-p6 (+10) — fixed in 13.2, 14.0

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: FreeBSD 13.2, 14.0. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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