VMware ESXi Authentication Bypass Vulnerability
VMware ESXi contains an authentication bypass vulnerability. A malicious actor with sufficient Active Directory (AD) permissions can gain full access to an ESXi host that was previously configured to use AD for user management by re-creating the configured AD group ('ESXi Admins' by default) after it was deleted from AD.
A remote attacker, with administrative privileges, can achieve full data confidentiality loss, arbitrary modification of data, complete denial of service or system unavailability. CISA has confirmed use of this vulnerability in known ransomware campaigns — treat as high priority for remediation. Federal agencies are required to remediate by 2024-08-20 under CISA BOD 22-01.
This is a Improper Authentication (CWE-287) vulnerability in VMware ESXi. Exploitation requires remote network access, low attack complexity, an administrative account, and user interaction required.
Probably yes if any of these apply:
CISA confirms this CVE has been used in known ransomware campaigns. Added to the KEV catalog on 2024-07-30; federal agencies required to remediate by 2024-08-20.
Manual remediation steps
Apply the Vendor Patch
This vulnerability is in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog — apply the vendor's security update as soon as possible.
CISA required action: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
References
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References