---
title: "CVE-2025-22224: VMware ESXi and Workstation TOCTOU Race Condition Vulnerability"
url: https://erroneo.us/security/cve/CVE-2025-22224/
description: "CVE-2025-22224 (VMware ESXi and Workstation): Exploited in the wild (CISA KEV). VMware ESXi, and Workstation contain a TOCTOU (Time-of-Check Time-of-Use)…"
type: vulnerability-record
section: "Security Digest"
date_published: 2025-03-04
date_modified: 2026-02-26
publisher: erroneo.us
author: erroneo.us Security Desk
cve: "CVE-2025-22224"
kev: true
cvss: 9.3
epss: 0.01561
license: All rights reserved. Quote with attribution and a link.
---

# CVE-2025-22224: VMware ESXi and Workstation TOCTOU Race Condition Vulnerability

**Signal:** Exploited: patch now if you run it. CISA has confirmed exploitation in the wild. (Computed from CISA KEV, EPSS and CVSS; not an editorial verdict.)

## Should you act?

- Yes, if you run VMware ESXi and Workstation. CISA added this CVE to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2025-03-04, which means there is reliable evidence of exploitation in the wild. US federal agencies must remediate by 2025-03-25 ; treat that as the outer limit, not the target.
- EPSS 1.6% , percentile 75: FIRST’s model estimates a 1.6% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 75% of all scored CVEs (moderate). EPSS is a probability, not a verdict.
- Needs local access needed. Lower urgency for most teams unless an attacker could already run code on the machine.

## What it is

VMware ESXi, and Workstation contain a TOCTOU (Time-of-Check Time-of-Use) vulnerability that leads to an out-of-bounds write. A malicious actor with local administrative privileges on a virtual machine may exploit this issue to execute code as the virtual machine's VMX process running on the host.

## Affected products (CVE record)

- VMware ESXi: 8.0 < ESXi80U3d-24585383, 8.0 < ESXi80U2d-24585300, 7.0 < ESXi70U3s-24585291
- VMware Workstation: 17.x < 17.6.3
- VMware VMware Cloud Foundation: 5.x, 4.5.x
- VMware Telco Cloud Platform: 5.x, 4.x, 3.x, 2.x
- VMware Telco Cloud Infrastructure: 3.x, 2.x

## Severity

- vmware CVSS 3.1: 9.3 `CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H`

## Exploitation

- CISA KEV: added 2025-03-04; federal due date 2025-03-25. Known ransomware use: Unknown.
- CISA required action: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
- CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation active , automatable no , technical impact total .
- FIRST EPSS (model of 2026-10-21): 1.56% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 75.

## Sources

- [Listed in CISA KEV notes (support.broadcom.com)](https://support.broadcom.com/web/ecx/support-content-notification/-/external/content/SecurityAdvisories/0/25390)
- [CVE.org record CVE-2025-22224](https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-22224)
- [NVD entry CVE-2025-22224](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-22224)
- [CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog entry](https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2025-22224)

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Source page: https://erroneo.us/security/cve/CVE-2025-22224/ · Security Digest: https://erroneo.us/security/ · More: https://erroneo.us/llms.txt