On Thu, 2005-02-03 at 16:01 -0700, AZ Pete wrote:
> If I load VMWare and create a separate XP session for my newphew to play
> around in, will this prevent the "main" XP installation from becoming
> infected should he download some nasties within his VM session.
Peter,
Generally speaking...
The VM's are totally separate from each other. However, if one of the
VM's is worm infected and begins seeking targets to spread to, the other
VM's *could* be visible over the virtual "network". However, it would
be no different than protecting a physical machine from another physical
machine across the network.
The only other thing I could think of is maybe a VM that runs up the CPU
so high that other VMs are starved for CPU cycles.
Thinking more maliciously...
There might be some opportunities there for heap overflow exploits in
one VM that could impact the Host OS or other guest OS's. I have not
seen anything like that yet, but basic knowledge of heap overflows would
indicate that it is possible. This is especially true with applications
that rely on the global heap management algorithms of Windows ntdll.dll
(most win32 apps). <grin> Bottom line... I wouldn't worry about it.
It's certainly not bait for the script kiddies. It would take a
"ninja-and-a-half" to pull it off.
(this might be a fun research project)
...Kevin
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