NFS client code occasionally triggered this in the (distant) past, but that's just how it is when 'hard' mount option is chosen and the server becomes inaccessible for a prolonged time. The solution there is to get a reliable, sufficiently capable server and network (NOT to use 'soft' mounts as that can lead to silent data corruption) (and avoid cross-ocean mounts ;-}

But yes, running a VM on a grossly overloaded (over-committed memory?) host might trip timeout warnings as this as well.