Classified as severe, CVE-2009-1542 has the potential to impact multiple systems at scale.
Status: Deferred
Last updated: 🕧 09 Apr 2025, 00:30 UTC
Originally published on: 🕞 15 Jul 2009, 15:30 UTC
Time between publication and last update: 5746 days
CVSS Release: version 2
CVE-2009-1542: The Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) in Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 SP1, 2007, and 2007 SP1, and Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1, does not enforce CPU privilege-level requirements for all machine instructions, which allows guest OS users to execute arbitrary kernel-mode code and gain privileges within the guest OS via a crafted application, aka "Virtual PC and Virtual Server Privileged Instruction Decoding Vulnerability."
The exploitability of CVE-2009-1542 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).
CVE-2009-1542 can be exploited easily with a single authentication step.
A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.
Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.
Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.
Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2009-1542, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.
Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2009-1542, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.
The EPSS score estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the near future.
EPSS Score: 1.38% (probability of exploit)
EPSS Percentile: 86.44%
(lower percentile = lower relative risk)
This vulnerability is less risky than approximately 13.560000000000002% of others.
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