Workstation and Fusion are VMware's hosted (type-2) hypervisors, running on a user's Windows, Linux, or macOS desktop. They share most of ESXi's vmware-vmx device-emulation code, so they share its guest-to-host escape surface, and they add desktop integration features (Shared Folders, drag-and-drop, clipboard) that are their own attack surface. They are common analysis and detonation environments, which makes escaping them valuable.
Subtopics#
- Guest to host escape: breaking out through shared device emulation.
- Shared folder and drag-drop abuse: reaching host files through integration features.
- Known escape exploits: named desktop VMware breakouts.