A **hypervisor** abstracts the host’s hardware from the operating software environment. There are two types of hypervisors. **Type one hypervisors** run on the hardware of the host computer. An example of a type one hypervisor is VMware®'s ESXi. **Type two hypervisors** operate on the software of the host computer. An example of a type two hypervisor is VirtualBox. Cloud service providers ([[Cloud Computing|CSPs]]) commonly use type one hypervisors. CSPs are *responsible for managing the hypervisor and other virtualisation components*. The CSP ensures that cloud resources and cloud environments are available, and it provides regular patches and updates. Vulnerabilities in hypervisors or misconfigurations can lead to **virtual machine escapes** (VM escapes). A VM escape is an exploit where a malicious actor gains access to the primary hypervisor, potentially the host computer and other VMs. As a CSP customer, you will rarely deal with hypervisors directly.