Software Update: VMware Workstation Pro 15.0.3

VMware has released version 15.0.3 of its virtualization software Workstation Pro. With this program it is possible to create one or more virtual computers on which a large number of different operating systems can be installed. That way they can be used side by side, as opposed to a dual boot setup, which requires choosing one OS or the other. VMware Workstation is available for Windows and Linux, and licenses start at about 275 euros. In version 15.0.3 some security vulnerabilities have been fixed and the OpenSSL and libxml2 libraries have been updated to a newer version.

Important Fixes:

• VMware Workstation Player contained elevation of privilege vulnerabilities:
  • Workstation Player does not handle paths appropriately. This may allow the path to the VMX executable, on a Windows host, to be hijacked by a non-administrator leading to elevation of privilege. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the identifier CVE-2019-5511 to this issue. see VMSA-2019-0002 for further information.
  • COM classes are not handled appropriately. This may allow hijacking of COM classes used by the VMX process, on a Windows host, leading to elevation of privilege. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the identifier CVE-2019-5512 to this issue. see VMSA-2019-0002 for further information.
• Updated OpenSSL library version to 1.0.2q.
• Updated libxml2 library version to 2.9.9.