What is the term for an attack that affects more than one virtual machine and/or the hypervisor?

The term for an attack that affects more than one virtual machine and/or the hypervisor is known as a virtual machine escape. This type of attack occurs when a malicious actor successfully breaks out of a virtual machine to gain unauthorized access to the host operating system or other virtual machines running on the same hypervisor. Virtual machine escapes can have serious implications for data security and system integrity, as they can allow attackers to compromise multiple virtual environments and manipulate or steal sensitive information.

Understanding this concept is crucial in environments that utilize virtualization, as it underscores the importance of securing hypervisor configurations and keeping virtualization platforms updated to mitigate potential vulnerabilities that could be exploited by an attacker. Effectively, protecting hypervisors helps contain threats to individual virtual machines and ensures the overall security of multi-tenant architectures.