(Pwn2Own) Red Hat Enterprise Linux vmwgfx Driver Integer Overflow Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

March 30th, 2026
ZDI-26-232 ZDI-CAN-27173

CVE ID

CVE-2025-40277

CVSS Score

8.8 AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected Vendors

Red Hat

Affected Products

Enterprise Linux

Vulnerability Details

This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability.

The specific flaw exists within the vmw_cmd_check function. The issue results from the lack of proper validation of user-supplied data, which can result in an integer overflow before writing to memory. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of the kernel.

Additional Details

Red Hat has issued an update to correct this vulnerability. More details can be found at:
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2025-40277

Disclosure Timeline

  • 2025-05-29 - Vulnerability reported to vendor
  • 2026-03-30 - Coordinated public release of advisory
  • 2026-03-30 - Advisory Updated

Credit

Pumpkin (@u1f383) from DEVCORE Research Team

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