Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2021-2442 is a denial-of-service issue in Oracle VM VirtualBox Core before 6.1.24. An attacker already holding high privileges on the system where VirtualBox runs could crash or hang VirtualBox repeatedly. Business urgency is moderate because exploitation requires privileged local access, but affected virtualization hosts can disrupt development, testing, or desktop virtualization workflows.
Executive priority
Handle through normal vulnerability remediation with attention to business-critical virtualization hosts. It is not evidenced as actively exploited in the supplied sources, but repeatable crashes can interrupt teams relying on VirtualBox for development, testing, or training.
Technical view
The vulnerability affects Oracle VM VirtualBox prior to 6.1.24. CVSS 3.1 is 6.0 with local attack vector, low complexity, high privileges required, no user interaction, changed scope, and high availability impact only. The supplied sources do not provide a CWE, root-cause detail, proof of concept, or active exploitation evidence.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely on developer workstations, lab systems, CI or testing hosts, and other infrastructure running Oracle VM VirtualBox before 6.1.24. The attacker needs high-privileged logon access to the environment where VirtualBox executes, so this is not primarily a remote internet-facing risk.
Exploitation context
The supplied bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or cited active exploitation. Oracle describes the issue as easily exploitable once a high-privileged attacker has local infrastructure access. Successful exploitation can cause a complete denial of service of VirtualBox and may affect additional products through scope change.
Researcher notes
Key constraints are local access and high privileges. Impact is availability only, with no stated confidentiality or integrity effect. Scope is changed, so dependent products or workflows may be affected. The provided sources lack CWE, technical root cause, exploit artifacts, and detailed detection guidance.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade VirtualBox to 6.1.24 or later, following Oracle guidance.
- Apply relevant distribution security updates, including Gentoo GLSA guidance where applicable.
- Restrict privileged access to systems running VirtualBox.
- Prioritize shared VirtualBox hosts that support build, test, or operational workflows.
Validation and detection
- Inventory all systems running Oracle VM VirtualBox.
- Confirm installed VirtualBox versions are not prior to 6.1.24.
- Check OS package manager records for applied VirtualBox security updates.
- Review privileged user access on VirtualBox hosts.
- Monitor affected hosts for recurring VirtualBox hangs or crashes.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CVE-2021-2442 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 6 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H1.54Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
6MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujul2021.htmlCVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- GLSA-202208-36CVE reference · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_GENTOO
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.