VMware fixed RCE and privilege escalation bugs in vCenter Server
June 18, 2024
VMware addressed vCenter Server vulnerabilities that can allow remote code execution or privilege escalation.
VMware addressed multiple vCenter Server vulnerabilities that remote attackers can exploit to achieve remote code execution or privilege escalation.
vCenter Server is a centralized management platform developed by VMware for managing virtualized environments.
The vCenter Server contains multiple heap-overflow flaws, tracked as CVE-2024-37079, CVE-2024-37080 (maximum CVSSv3 base score 9.8), in the implementation of the DCERPC protocol.
“A malicious actor with network access to vCenter Server may trigger these vulnerabilities by sending a specially crafted network packet potentially leading to remote code execution.” reads the advisory published by the company.
Customers are recommended to install the released security patches, no workarounds are available.
The vulnerabilities were reported by Hao Zheng (@zhz) and Zibo Li (@zbleet) from TianGong Team of Legendsec at Qi’anxin Group.
VMware also addressed multiple local privilege escalation vulnerabilities, tracked as CVE-2024-37081 (maximum CVSSv3 base score of 7.8), in the vCenter Server.
“The vCenter Server contains multiple local privilege escalation vulnerabilities due to misconfiguration of sudo.” reads the advisory. “An authenticated local user with non-administrative privileges may exploit these issues to elevate privileges to root on vCenter Server Appliance.”
The issue was reported by Matei “Mal” Badanoiu from Deloitte Romania
VMware confirmed that it is not aware of attacks in the wild exploiting these issues.
The following table reports impacted products and fixed versions:
| VMware Product | Version | Running On | CVE | CVSSv3 | Severity | Fixed Version | Workarounds | Additional Documentation |
| vCenter Server | 8.0 | Any | CVE-2024-37079, CVE-2024-37080, CVE-2024-37081 | 9.8, 9.8, 7.8 | Critical | 8.0 U2d | None | FAQ |
| vCenter Server | 8.0 | Any | CVE-2024-37079, CVE-2024-37080 | 9.8, 9.8 | Critical | 8.0 U1e | None | FAQ |
| vCenter Server | 7.0 | Any | CVE-2024-37079, CVE-2024-37080, CVE-2024-37081 | 9.8, 9.8, 7.8 | Critical | 7.0 U3r | None | FAQ |
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Pierluigi Paganini
(SecurityAffairs – hacking, VMware)