An Open VM Tools security update has been released for Ubuntu Linux 16.04 ESM.

USN-5578-2: Open VM Tools vulnerability

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Ubuntu Security Notice USN-5578-2
August 24, 2022

open-vm-tools vulnerability
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A security issue affects these releases of Ubuntu and its derivatives:

- Ubuntu 16.04 ESM

Summary:

open-vm-tools could be made to run programs as an administrator.

Software Description:
- open-vm-tools: Open VMware Tools for virtual machines hosted on VMware

Details:

USN-5578-1 fixed a vulnerability in Open VM Tools. This update provides
the corresponding update for Ubuntu 16.04 ESM.

Original advisory details:

It was discovered that Open VM Tools incorrectly handled certain requests.
An attacker inside the guest could possibly use this issue to gain root
privileges inside the virtual machine.

Update instructions:

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following
package versions:

Ubuntu 16.04 ESM:
open-vm-tools 2:10.2.0-3~ubuntu0.16.04.1+esm1

In general, a standard system update will make all the necessary changes.

References:
  https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-5578-2
  https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-5578-1
CVE-2022-31676