CVE-2021-21972 vulnerability in VMware Products
Published on February 24, 2021

The vSphere Client (HTML5) contains a remote code execution vulnerability in a vCenter Server plugin. A malicious actor with network access to port 443 may exploit this issue to execute commands with unrestricted privileges on the underlying operating system that hosts vCenter Server. This affects VMware vCenter Server (7.x before 7.0 U1c, 6.7 before 6.7 U3l and 6.5 before 6.5 U3n) and VMware Cloud Foundation (4.x before 4.2 and 3.x before 3.10.1.2).

Vendor Advisory NVD

Known Exploited Vulnerability

This VMware vCenter Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability is part of CISA's list of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities. The vSphere Client (HTML5) contains a remote code execution vulnerability in a vCenter Server plugin. A malicious actor with network access to port 443 may exploit this issue to execute commands with unrestricted privileges on the underlying operating system that hosts vCenter Server.

The following remediation steps are recommended / required by November 17, 2021: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Vulnerability Analysis

CVE-2021-21972 is exploitable with network access, and does not require authorization privileges or user interaction. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. It has the highest possible exploitability rating (3.9). The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to be critical as this vulnerability has a high impact to the confidentiality, integrity and availability of this component.

What is a Directory traversal Vulnerability?

The software uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the software does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory.

CVE-2021-21972 has been classified to as a Directory traversal vulnerability or weakness.

Products Associated with CVE-2021-21972

You can be notified by stack.watch whenever vulnerabilities like CVE-2021-21972 are published in these products:

VMware Cloud Foundation

VMware Vcenter Server

What versions are vulnerable to CVE-2021-21972?