What is CVE-2021-22045?

CVE-2021-22045 is a high-severity vulnerability in Apple Mac OS X, classified under Out-of-bounds Write. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2022-01-04.

How severe is CVE-2021-22045?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.

Is CVE-2021-22045 known to be exploited?

1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Buffer overflow in Apple Mac OS X

CVE-2021-22045

VMware ESXi (7.0, 6.7 before ESXi670-202111101-SG and 6.5 before ESXi650-202110101-SG), VMware Workstation (16.2.0) and VMware Fusion (12.2.0) contains a heap-overflow vulnerability in CD-ROM device emulation. A malicious actor with access to a virtual machine with CD-ROM device emulation may be able to exploit this vulnerability in conjunction with other issues to execute code on the hypervisor from a virtual machine.

Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow

Published 2022-01-04 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.047 (91.5th percentile), scored 2026-10-02.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 91st percentile — 91.5% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.047 · newest: 0.047 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Apple Mac OS X
VMware Cloud Foundation
VMware Esxi — versions 6.5, 6.7, 7.0
VMware Fusion
VMware Workstation
VMware Esxi, Workstation And Fusion — versions VMware ESXi (7.0, 6.7 before ESXi670-202111101-SG and 6.5 before ESXi650-202110101-SG), VMware Workstation (16.2.0) and VMware Fusion (12.2.0)

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-787 — Out-of-bounds Write

Public proof-of-concept exploits

ARPSyndicate/cvemon

References

www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2022-0001.html (Vendor Advisory)
packetstormsecurity.com/files/165440/VMware-Security-Advisory-2022-0001.html (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)
www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-22-003/ (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-22045?: CVE-2021-22045 is a high-severity vulnerability in Apple Mac OS X, classified under Out-of-bounds Write. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2022-01-04.
How severe is CVE-2021-22045?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.
Is CVE-2021-22045 known to be exploited?: 1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.