CVE-2008-3431
The VBoxDrvNtDeviceControl function in VBoxDrv.sys in Sun xVM VirtualBox before 1.6.4 uses the METHOD_NEITHER communication method for…
- 8.8HighCVSS base score
- 6.9%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 5.9% of all CVEs
- YesKnown exploitedin CISA's KEV since 3 Mar 2022
- 1Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
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.
Exploited in the wild
CISA lists this vulnerability in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as Oracle VirtualBox Insufficient Input Validation Vulnerability.
- Added
- 3 Mar 2022
- Fix due (US federal)
- 24 Mar 2022
- Used by ransomware
- Not known
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
ENISA's EU Vulnerability Database lists it as exploited, from CISA's KEV, since 3 Mar 2022.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list an Exploit-DB entry for it. A reference of the record is tagged as an exploit. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: it is being exploited.
Show the exploits2
Exploit-DB1 entry
- Sun xVM VirtualBox < 1.6.4 - Privilege Escalation (PoC) (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 6218dos, multiplepublished 10 Aug 2008Verified
References tagged exploit1 reference
- 6218 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By mitre
- 5 days later
· 5 days later
Published
- 14 years later
· 14 years later
Added to CISA KEV
Known exploited in the wild
- 4 years later
· 4 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CISA-ADPADP (enrichment) | 3.1 | High8.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | High8.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 6.9% · top 5.9% of all CVEs (9 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 8.8.
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
References
12
- 30481 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
- 4107 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SREASONx_transferred
- 6218 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- 240095 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_SUNALERTx_transferred
- 31361 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
- http://www.coresecurity.com/content/virtualbox-privilege-escalation-vulnerability (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- sun-xvmvirtualbox-privilege-escalation(44202) (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_XFx_transferred
- ADV-2008-2293 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_VUPENx_transferred
- http://virtualbox.org/wiki/Changelog (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- 1020625 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_SECTRACKx_transferred
- 20080804 CORE-2008-0716 - Sun xVM VirtualBox Privilege Escalation Vulnerability (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2008-3431 (opens in a new tab)government-resource
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- CISA KEV catalog (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2008-3417 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2008-3431)Record last updated .