VMware ESXi: Compromised Host Forces VMware Tools Auth Failure
CVE-2023-20867 Published on June 13, 2023
VMware Tools Authentication Bypass Vulnerability
A fully compromised ESXi host can force VMware Tools to fail to authenticate host-to-guest operations, impacting the confidentiality and integrity of the guest virtual machine.
Known Exploited Vulnerability
This VMware Tools Authentication Bypass Vulnerability is part of CISA's list of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities. VMware Tools contains an authentication bypass vulnerability in the vgauth module. A fully compromised ESXi host can force VMware Tools to fail to authenticate host-to-guest operations, impacting the confidentiality and integrity of the guest virtual machine. An attacker must have root access over ESXi to exploit this vulnerability.
The following remediation steps are recommended / required by July 14, 2023: Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Vulnerability Analysis
CVE-2023-20867 can be exploited with local system access, and requires user privileges. This vulnerability is consided to have a high level of attack complexity. This vulnerability is known to be actively exploited by threat actors. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to have a small impact on confidentiality and integrity, and no impact on availability.
Weakness Type
What is an authentification Vulnerability?
When an actor claims to have a given identity, the software does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct.
CVE-2023-20867 has been classified to as an authentification vulnerability or weakness.
Products Associated with CVE-2023-20867
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Affected Versions
VMware Tools Version 12.2.5 is unaffected by CVE-2023-20867Exploit Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.