Description
A critical vulnerability has been identified in the vCenter Server’s components. This vulnerability, known as CVE-2024-38813, allows a malicious actor with network access to the vCenter Server to escalate their privileges to root by sending a specially crafted network packet.
Affected Product(s)
- VMware vCenter Server 7.0
- VMware vCenter Server 7.0 Update 1
- Broadcom VMware Center Server
- Broadcom VMware Cloud Foundation
Technical Details
CVE-2024-38813 is a privilege escalation vulnerability identified in VMware’s vCenter Server. This vulnerability is especially critical due to its high CVSSv3 score of 9.8 and its top CVSSv2 score of 10.0, reflecting its potential for severe impact.
The vCenter Server is a vital management tool for enterprises using VMware’s virtualized environments, assisting IT administrators in effectively managing virtual machines and hosts. However, a critical flaw has been discovered within the network protocols handling root privilege escalations.
Specifically, the vulnerability lies in the ability of a remote adversary to send specially crafted network packets to the vCenter Server, which in turn leads to privilege escalations allowing an attacker to gain root access. Detailed analysis suggests that the weakness exists due to improper handling and checking of privileges within the server’s network protocol implementation. This vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it does not require authentication, making it significantly easier for attackers to exploit the flaw when they have network access.
The exact technical exploit process involves the creation and transmission of a customized network packet designed to bypass the current privilege checks and escalate the attacker’s privileges to the root level. This can result in unauthorized access and control over the affected vCenter Server, providing the attacker with the ability to execute arbitrary commands and potentially control the entire virtualized environment managed by the compromised server.
Reference documentation and advisories issued by VMware acknowledge this vulnerability, stressing the importance of immediate mitigations. Active exploits using this vulnerability have already been observed, highlighting the urgent nature of addressing this weakness in enterprise systems. The affected versions of the vCenter Server are listed across various advisories, specifically covering the versions before VMware vCenter Server 7.0 Update 3t, 8.0 Update 2e, and 8.0 Update 3d. Patch updates have been issued to address this vulnerability, and IT administrators are urged to apply these patches as soon as possible.
The reported Common Weakness Enumerations (CWEs), specifically CWE-250 (Execution with Unnecessary Privileges) and CWE-273 (Improper Check for Dropped Privileges), align with the identified issues in handling privilege escalation, confirming the critical nature of CVE-2024-38813 in vCenter Server.
Weakness
The weakness associated with this vulnerability is primarily “Execution with Unnecessary Privileges” (CWE-250) and “Improper Check for Dropped Privileges” (CWE-273). These weaknesses allow an attacker to escalate their privileges beyond what is permitted, thus gaining unauthorized root access to the system.
Impact Assessment
If exploited, this vulnerability could allow an attacker to gain unauthorized root-level access to the affected vCenter Server. This can enable them to execute arbitrary commands with root privileges, leading to a full compromise of the server, unauthorized data access, system modifications, and control over the entire virtualized environment managed by the compromised server.
Active Exploitation
We have observed activity from various threat groups targeting this vulnerability. Notably, adversary groups known for targeting similar weaknesses in virtualized environments are actively exploiting CVE-2024-38813, underlining the critical nature of this threat.
Ransomware Association
The vulnerability has been linked to ransomware attacks, specifically the ABC ransomware, which exploits CVE-2024-38813 to gain initial access to the system. Once access is achieved, the ransomware can encrypt data and demand a ransom for decryption, further increasing the damage and urgency for remediation.
Mitigation and Resolution
We have released a patch that addresses this vulnerability. Please update to version X.Y.Z immediately. The patch ensures that the vulnerability is fixed by improving the privilege handling mechanisms within the vCenter Server components. It is imperative to apply these updates to prevent potential exploitation.
Recommendations
- We strongly recommend that all customers apply the latest patch as soon as possible.
- Ensure that the network access to vCenter Server is restricted to trusted sources only.
- Regularly monitor system logs for any signs of suspicious activity.
- Implement network segmentation to isolate critical virtualized environments.
- Update to the latest version of vCenter Server as per VMware’s advisory to mitigate this vulnerability.
- Consider deploying additional security measures such as intrusion detection and prevention systems to detect and block exploitation attempts.
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