VMware released an update to VMware Workstation 8.0.3 Build 703057 yesterday (May 3, 2012).  The update is a security update addresses two vulnerabilities that would allow out-of-bounds memory writes on floppy and SCSI devices under certain conditions.  The vulnerabilities may allow specially crafted attacks to crash the VMX process (i.e. crash the running VM) or theoretically execute commands on the host.  The VMware Workstation 8.0.3 release notes can be found here: https://www.vmware.com/support/ws80/doc/releasenotes_workstation_803.html.

VMware’s security advisories for these vulnerabilities can be found here: http://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2012-0009.html.

Users of VMware Workstation should be prompted to update to the latest version when launching the application:

If you are not automatically prompted to update VMware Workstation, manually check for updates from the Help menu:

You can also download the full install package of VMware Workstation from http://www.vmware.com/products/workstation.

While not specifically mentioned in the release notes, I wonder if this update was prompted by the VMware source code leak described in the VMware Security Blog: http://blogs.vmware.com/security/2012/05/vmware-security-note.html.  If so, kudos to VMware’s security and engineering teams for quickly identifying, fixing, and releasing updates to correct flaws that may be exposed through this code leak.

Here are some bookmarks for resources that I have recently referenced:

• vCenter 4 and ESX 4 Now Use 10 Year Default SSL Certificate | VM /ETC – Rich Brambly has some guidance on installing a new SSL certificate on vCenter, with very useful links in his post to official VMware documentation and KB’s on the subject.
• VMware vSphere Client on Microsoft Windows 7! | Virtual Lifestyle – Heiko Verlande has found a way to run the VMware vSphere Client on Windows 7.
• Virtu-Al » PowerCLI: Daily Report V2 – Version two of a handy PowerShell based VMware Environment Daily Report from VMware vExpert and PowerShell guru Alan Renouf
  What’s new/Bug Fixes
  * Active VMs count
  * Inactive VMs count
  * DRS Migrations count and list
  * Correct NTP Server check for each host
  * VMs stored on local datastores
  * NTP Service check for each host
  * vmkernel warning messages for each host
  * VM CPU ready over x%
• VMware Self-Service- VMware Update Manager Plug-In fails to install -Troubleshooting steps for vCenter Plug-in install problems.
• Using VMware VDI and vmSight for Stronger and Sustainable HIPAA and PCI Compliance – Virtualization brings new options for protecting sensitive data by moving it from the desktop into the datacenter.
• Counter of the Week : Analyzing Storage Performance – The purpose of this article is to provide prescriptive guidance on how to troubleshoot logical and physical disk response times in regards to Windows performance analysis. Start with the following performance counters to analyze disk response…
• NetApp, Compellent, HP, Dell top the field in 12-product test – Network World – A terabyte isn’t what it used to be. Disks are slower than you think. And a Gigabit Ethernet is plenty of bandwidth for many storage applications.