VMware Workstation gdk-pixbuf path searching vulnerability

A new vulnerability seems to afflict the most known VMware product, providing privileges escalation:


Tavis Ormandy has discovered a vulnerability in VMware Workstation, which can be exploited by malicious, local users to gain escalated privileges.

The vulnerability is caused due to VMware Workstation searching for gdk-pixbuf modules in a world-writable directory. This can be exploited via a malicious module to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running VMware Workstation.

Successful exploitation requires that gdk-pixbuf is not installed on the system.

The vulnerability has been confirmed in version 4.5.2 (build 8848). Other versions may also be affected.