Re: Vulnerability of VMWare Virtual Machine?

["Gregory Rubin" <grrubin () gmail com>]

This was just sent out by VMWare (I'm on their mailinglist).  Hope
that it helps.

http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/vmworld/index.html#SLN138-A

Greg Rubin

On 3/26/06, Murad Talukdar <talukdar_m () subway com> wrote:
> Hi Chavoux,
> I think you answered your own question here:
>
> > > If the virtual machine itself get compromised, it is not such a big
> problem. However, how vulnerable would the other windows machines on the LAN
> be to attacks from a compromised virtual machine? Basically, if I'm not
> worried about the data on the virtual machine, should I bother to make it
> secure?
>
> IF the machine gets compromised then perhaps it is not just the data that
> you need to worry about. Do you know for sure that the compromised VM would
> not be able to gain access to the rest of the LAN?
>
> Regards
> Murad Talukdar
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chavoux Luyt [mailto:chavoux () gmail com]
> Sent: Friday, March 24, 2006 1:15 AM
> To: security-basics () securityfocus com
> Subject: Vulnerability of VMWare Virtual Machine?
>
> Hi
>
> I'm fairly new to virtual machines and would like to know more about
> their vulnerability after reading the recent thread on creating an
> isolated virtual LAN with 2 virtual machines. I'm using a VMware
> virtual machine running WindowsXP SP2(as guest OS) on linux (host OS)
> for development. I can connect to the virtual machine (shared folders)
> from the linux host using konqueror & samba. I cannot access the linux
> host from the Windows virtual machine, but I can connect to the
> internet and to the other (Windows) PC's on the LAN (using their IP
> adresses). I have not bothered to join the domain from the virtual
> machine nor installed the anti-virus/firewall software running on all
> the other PC's on the LAN. I only use the virtual network connection
> to copy data to and from the linux host.
>
> I have two questions regarding the security risk of this setup...
> 1. The virtual machine is on a different (virtual) subnetwork to the
> rest of the LAN... how vulnerable is it to attacks from the internet?
> I.e. is it more vulnerable than the other Windows machines on the LAN
> that have updated virus scanners and firewalls? (The whole LAN is
> behind a firewall as well).
> 2. If the virtual machine itself get compromised, it is not such a big
> problem. However, how vulnerable would the other windows machines on
> the LAN be to attacks from a compromised virtual machine? Basically,
> if I'm not worried about the data on the virtual machine, should I
> bother to make it secure?
>
> Thanks
> Chavoux
>
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EARN A MASTER OF SCIENCE IN INFORMATION ASSURANCE - ONLINE
The Norwich University program offers unparalleled Infosec management
education and the case study affords you unmatched consulting experience.
Tailor your education to your own professional goals with degree
customizations including Emergency Management, Business Continuity Planning,
Computer Emergency Response Teams, and Digital Investigations.

http://www.msia.norwich.edu/secfocus
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