Broadcom recently patched three VMware zero-days (CVE-2025-22224, CVE-2025-22225, CVE-2025-22226), suspected to be actively exploited. These vulnerabilities allow attackers with VM admin access to break out, execute code on the hypervisor, and take over ESXi hosts—jeopardizing entire multi-tenant cloud and enterprise environments.
Adding to the risk: EDR tools don’t typically monitor hypervisors, meaning these attacks could go undetected until it’s too late.
With over 41,000 unpatched ESXi instances and ransomware groups eyeing hypervisor exploits, security teams must act before attackers do. But traditional patching requires downtime, reboots, and trust in vendor patches.
So how can you protect your infrastructure right now—without taking critical systems offline?
The answer: virtual patching.
What Is Virtual Patching?
Virtual patching isn’t just a buzzword, it’s a proactive security strategy that prevents exploitation at runtime without modifying system code. It neutralizes threats before they’re weaponized, making it critical for:
- Zero-day defense – Protecting systems before official patches are available.
- Unsupported environments – Securing legacy infrastructure that no longer receives updates.
- Mission-critical workloads – Maintaining uptime when patching isn’t immediately possible.
By stopping attacks in real time, virtual patching ensures hypervisors remain secure even when traditional patching isn’t an option.
The Growing Urgency to Patch
Patching is essential, but in virtualized environments, the stakes are higher. A hypervisor vulnerability compromises every VM running on it, enabling lateral movement and total system takeover.
The risk is accelerating:
- 180% increase in vulnerability exploitation as an initial attack vector in 2023.
- 60% of organizations experienced a virtualization security incident in 2024; 30% involved unauthorized VM access.
- 75% of organizations admit they have more VMs than they can effectively secure.
- 85% admit they don’t follow a regular patching schedule; 47% cite downtime as the main blocker.
- 115 new CVEs on average are disclosed daily, a 30% year-over-year increase.
Even when patches are available, they’re reactive—this delay leaves systems exposed to zero-day threats and future exploits yet to be discovered. Organizations need a real-time defense that blocks exploits before they happen.
How ZeroLock Virtual Patching Secures VMware ESXi
ZeroLock® stops hypervisor exploits before they execute:
- Block exploits at runtime, even for unpatched or unsupported ESXi versions.
- Eliminate downtime—no reboot required for Agent installation and updates.
- Analyze distinctive exploit behaviors in unique CVEs targeting specific Linux services, enforcing additional lockdown rules to strengthen a multi-layered defense.
- Continuously update detection rules based on MITRE ATT&CK threat actor TTPs to counter new attacks, evolving techniques, and emerging malware families.
- Offers alert-only mode for visibility and fine-tuning before full enforcement.
- API-first architecture simplifies SIEM/SOAR management, enabling seamless interfacing with a SOC’s suite of defensive tools.
See ZeroLock in action → watch our latest Threat Intelligence video.
Stay Ahead of Zero-Day Threats
Cyber threats evolve fast—your security should be faster. ZeroLock ensures real-time protection, uninterrupted uptime, and proactive defense against emerging hypervisor exploits.
Security isn’t just about fixing what’s known. It’s about staying ahead.