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CVE Record

CVE-2026-21989: Vulnerability in the Oracle VM VirtualBox product of Oracle Virtualization (component: Core).

Vulnerability in the Oracle VM VirtualBox product of Oracle Virtualization (component: Core). Supported versions that are affected are 7.1.14 and 7.2.4. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows high privileged attacker with logon to the infrastructure where Oracle VM VirtualBox executes to compromise Oracle VM VirtualBox. While the vulnerability is in Oracle VM VirtualBox, attacks may significantly impact additional products (scope change). Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized creation, deletion or modification access to critical data or all Oracle VM VirtualBox accessible data as well as unauthorized access to critical data or complete access to all Oracle VM VirtualBox accessible data and unauthorized ability to cause a partial denial of service (partial DOS) of Oracle VM VirtualBox. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 8.1 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:L).

HighCVSS 8.1Not KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysishigh

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

CVE-2026-21989 is a high-severity Oracle VM VirtualBox Core vulnerability affecting supported versions 7.1.14 and 7.2.4. An already high-privileged user with access to the host infrastructure could compromise VirtualBox data and partially disrupt service. This is not described as remote or unauthenticated.

Executive priority

Prioritize remediation for VirtualBox hosts used by administrators, developers, or sensitive workloads. The risk is serious but not internet-scale: exploitation needs high privileges and local infrastructure access. Treat it as a privileged-access containment and patch-management issue.

Technical view

Oracle rates this CVSS 8.1 with local attack vector, low complexity, high privileges required, no user interaction, and changed scope. Successful exploitation may allow complete read access and creation, deletion, or modification of VirtualBox-accessible data, plus partial denial of service.

Likely exposure

Exposure is likely limited to systems running Oracle VM VirtualBox 7.1.14 or 7.2.4 where high-privileged users can log on to the underlying infrastructure. Environments using VirtualBox for sensitive workloads or shared administration have higher business impact.

Exploitation context

The provided sources do not state active exploitation, public exploit availability, or CISA KEV listing. Exploitation requires local infrastructure access with high privileges, reducing broad internet risk but increasing concern for insider, compromised admin, or lateral-movement scenarios.

Researcher notes

The advisory identifies the component as Core but does not provide CWE, root cause, exploit details, or fixed-version specifics in the provided bundle. Avoid assuming guest-to-host escape or remote exploitation without additional vendor evidence.

Mitigation direction

  • Review Oracle’s January 2026 Critical Patch Update guidance for VirtualBox.
  • Upgrade or apply patches exactly as directed by Oracle.
  • Restrict high-privileged logon access to hosts running VirtualBox.
  • Reduce sensitive data exposure to VirtualBox where practical.
  • Monitor privileged activity on affected VirtualBox hosts.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory VirtualBox installations and versions across managed endpoints and servers.
  • Flag Oracle VM VirtualBox 7.1.14 and 7.2.4 as affected.
  • Confirm patch or upgrade status against Oracle advisory guidance.
  • Review privileged account access to affected VirtualBox infrastructure.
  • Check security logs for unusual privileged VirtualBox host activity.
Prepared
Confidence
high
Sources
3

Public sources used

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

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

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CVE-2026-21989 mapping review

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
High
CVSS
8.1 (3.1)
Known Exploited
No
Published

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:L

Official CVE source material

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.

1CVSS vectors
0Timeline events
0ADP providers
2Source links

CVSS vector scores

1 official score

We 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.

ScoreVersionSeverityVectorExploitImpactSource
8.1CVSS 3.1HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:L1.56Primary CVE score

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.1 score

8.1High
CVSS 3.1 vector shape for CVE-2026-21989Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:L

Attack Vector
NetworkAdjacentLocalPhysical
Attack Complexity
LowHigh
Privileges Required
NoneLowHigh
User Interaction
NoneRequired
Scope
ChangedUnchanged
Confidentiality Impact
HighLowNone
Integrity Impact
HighLowNone
Availability Impact
HighLowNone

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
Oracle CorporationOracle VM VirtualBox7.1.14, 7.2.4Listed
Weakness

CWE details

No CWE listed

CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.