2.3 Virtualization Vulnerabilities

Question 1

Virtualization Security

Answer 1

Quite different than non-virtual machines. Can appear anywhere.

Quantity of resources vary between VMs. CPU, memory storage.

Many similarities to physical machines. Complexity adds opportunity for the attackers.

Virtualization vulnerabilities. Local privilege escalations, command injection, information disclosure.

Question 2

VM escape protection

Answer 2

The virtual machine is self-contained. Theres no way out. or is there?

Virtual Machine escape. Break out of the VM and interact with the host operating system or hardware.

Once you escape the VM, you have great control. Control the host and control other guest VMs.

Would be a huge exploit. Full control of the virtual world.

Question 3

Escaping the VM

Answer 3

March 2017- Pwn20wn competition. Hacking contest. You own it, you own it, along with cash.

JavaScript engine bug in Microsoft Edge. Code execution in the Edge sandbox.

Windows 10 Kernel bug. Compromise the guest operating system.

Hardware simulation bug in VMware. Escape the host.

Patches were released soon afterwards.

Question 4

Resource Reuse

Answer 4

The hypervisor manages the relationship between physical and virtual resources. Available RAM, Storage space, CPU availability, ETC.

These resources can be reused between VMs. Hypervisor host with 4 GB or RAM. Supports three VMs with 2 Gb of RAM each. RAM is allocated and shared between VMs.

Data can inadvertently be shared between VMs. Time to update the memory management feature. Security patches can mitigate the risk.