VMware Tools Authentication Bypass Vulnerability (CVE-2023-20867)
Severity: low · Patch status: patched · Since 2023-06-23 · CVE-2023-20867
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. CISA added CVE-2023-20867 to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on Jun 23, 2023, which means attackers are exploiting it in the wild.
What to do
- Apply updates per vendor instructions.
- US federal agencies must remediate by Jul 14, 2023 (BOD 22-01); treat that as the outer limit.
Sources
All live incidents on Threat Watch
