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How secure are virtual machines really? False sense of security?

I found out that malware authors check if the hard drive volume name, or network card MAC matches default virtual machine settings or other more esoteric solutions so their malware knows that its in a VM.So I was wondering if a malware can jump out from the VM and harm the physical(host) OS.

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marked as duplicate by Terry Chia, Jeff Ferland Oct 10 '12 at 7:30


2 Answers 2

up vote 3 down vote accepted

Check this out : http://security.stackexchange.com/a/20341/11218

Ideally, the malware should not jump out from the VM to harm the host system. This is what virtualization software strive to achieve. But there have been demonstrated attacks of VM ESCAPE that shows how a malicious program can modify the memory of the host OS.

So, unless the virtualization software used is really old and un-updated, a malware wouldn't be able to jump to the host OS.

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Another theoretical line of attack is over the network, where the VM is much more likely to be treated as a friend by virtue of being inside the LAN, or by sharing files with the host in ways that invite carelessness.

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