Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2026-22722 affects VMware Workstation on Windows. A logged-in user on the host could trigger a null pointer crash. The main business risk is disruption to local workstation availability, not data theft. Broadcom rates it medium and directs customers to apply the fixed versions in its advisory response matrix.
Executive priority
Treat as a moderate operational resilience issue. It is unlikely to be a broad remote breach driver based on provided evidence, but it can disrupt affected workstation hosts. Patch during normal endpoint maintenance, prioritizing shared or critical virtualization workstations.
Technical view
This is a CWE-476 null pointer dereference in VMware Workstation for Windows. The CVSS 3.1 score is 6.1 with local access, low complexity, low privileges, no user interaction, unchanged scope, no confidentiality impact, low integrity impact, and high availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to Windows hosts running affected VMware Workstation versions where an attacker already has authenticated local user privileges. The source bundle lists VMware Workstation 17.0 and 25H2u1 as affected, but exact fixed versions are only referenced in the vendor advisory response matrix.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not state active exploitation, and this CVE is not marked as CISA KEV. Exploitation requires authenticated user privileges on the Windows Workstation host, reducing remote attack likelihood but making shared workstations, lab systems, and developer endpoints relevant.
Researcher notes
Evidence supports a local authenticated denial-of-service style condition with possible low integrity impact per CVSS. The bundle does not provide exploit details, proof-of-concept status, or the exact fixed version values, so validation should rely on Broadcom advisory 36986.
Mitigation direction
- Review Broadcom advisory 36986 for the fixed version response matrix.
- Patch affected VMware Workstation for Windows installations to the vendor-listed fixed versions.
- Prioritize shared, high-use, or production-adjacent workstation hosts.
- Restrict local user access to systems running VMware Workstation where feasible.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Windows endpoints running VMware Workstation.
- Compare installed versions against Broadcom advisory 36986 response matrix.
- Confirm affected hosts are updated to vendor-listed fixed versions.
- Check whether untrusted or broad local user access exists on affected hosts.
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.
CWE-476: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2026-22722 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
- 6.1 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/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:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H1.84.2Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
6.1MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://support.broadcom.com/web/ecx/support-content-notification/-/external/content/SecurityAdvisories/0/36986CVE reference · vendor-advisory
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.
NULL Pointer Dereference
NULL Pointer Dereference represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.