Hi,

Am 09.05.2012 09:29, schrieb John:

> Hello. Is the environment of my guest OS secluded from the host OS in such a 
> way that, if I get an intrusion or malware problem from the internet on my 
> guest, my host OS would be totally secured from it? For example, if I put a 
> website up on the guest and it gets compromised, can my host be affected? In 
> a worse case scenario, could I just rebuild the guest, or restore from a 
> clean backup?


IMHO there is no "normal" way to get control over the host from a guest.
But in theory there might perhaps be bugs in the VirtualBox software
that could be exploited.

To minimize the risk, one could *not* install guest additions. That
would avoid possible exploits through shared folders, shared clipboard,
or mouse integration.

But you will likely not want to disable guest networking. And such
networking might be the main risk for possible exploits. This does not
even need bugs in VirtualBox software, but might also be done through
bugs in the host network stack. Let alone a possible insecure network
setup on the host (open ports, imperfect netfilter rules, ...). After
all the VM will be in a LAN. A compromised machine in a LAN is a danger
to all machines in it. One could try to put the VM in a VLAN, which
makes a "demilitarized zone". But it's still difficult to promise that
this would lock out every attacker.

> 
> In such an event, where the guest was compromised and I wanted to restore a 
> backup, would the whole VM have to be reinstalled, or would I only have to 
> replace all of the contents of one folder, namely, as in Windows, 
> %userprofile%\VirtualBox VMs\guest-name\?  Thanks.


IMHO it would be sufficient to copy back a known good virtual disk image.

Regards
Ingo

> 
> John
> 
> 
> 
> 
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Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and 
threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions 
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threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/
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