What is CVE-2019-5540?

CVE-2019-5540 is a high-severity vulnerability in Apple Mac OS X, classified under Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime. CVSS score: 7.7/10. Published 2019-11-20.

How severe is CVE-2019-5540?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.7 out of 10.

Vulnerability in Apple Mac OS X

CVE-2019-5540

VMware Workstation (15.x before 15.5.1) and Fusion (11.x before 11.5.1) contain an information disclosure vulnerability in vmnetdhcp. Successful exploitation of this issue may allow an attacker on a guest VM to disclose sensitive information by leaking memory from the host process.

Published 2019-11-20 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.7 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.012 (66.7th percentile), scored 2026-10-26.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 67th percentile — 66.7% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.012 · newest: 0.012 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Apple Mac OS X
VMware Fusion
VMware Workstation
VMware Workstation And Fusion — versions Workstation (15.x before 15.5.1) and Fusion (11.x before 11.5.1)

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-401 — Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime

References

www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2019-0021.html (Patch, Vendor Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2019-5540?: CVE-2019-5540 is a high-severity vulnerability in Apple Mac OS X, classified under Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime. CVSS score: 7.7/10. Published 2019-11-20.
How severe is CVE-2019-5540?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.7 out of 10.