A security analyst reviews an incident report detailing that an attacker, after compromising a guest virtual machine, exploited a flaw in the hypervisor. This action allowed the attacker to gain unauthorized access to the host operating system and other VMs on the same physical server. Which of the following vulnerability types does this incident describe?
A Virtual Machine (VM) escape is a security vulnerability that allows an attacker to break out from an isolated virtual machine and interact with the host operating system or other VMs. This type of vulnerability is particularly concerning because it undermines the isolation that is a fundamental security principle of virtualization. The other options are incorrect. Buffer overflow and SQL injection are general vulnerability types but are not specific to breaking out of a virtualized environment. A firmware compromise relates to attacks against the low-level software embedded in hardware, which is a different attack vector.
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What is VM escape?
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How does a hypervisor relate to VM escape?
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What are some best practices to mitigate the risk of VM escape?