A complete PoC exploit for CVE-2021-22005 in VMware vCenter is available online

An exploit for the recently disclosed CVE-2021-22005 vulnerability in VMware vCenter was publicly released, threat actors are already using it.

A working exploit for the CVE-2021-22005 vulnerability in VMware vCenter is publicly available, and attackers are already attempting to use it in the wild.

VMware recently addressed the critical arbitrary file upload vulnerability CVE-2021-22005, it impacts appliances running default vCenter Server 6.7 and 7.0 deployments.

vCenter Server is the centralized management utility for VMware, and is used to manage virtual machines, multiple ESXi hosts, and all dependent components from a single centralized location.

The vulnerability is due to the way it handles session tokens.

“VMware has released patches that address a new critical security advisory, VMSA-2021-0020. This needs your immediate attention if you are using vCenter Server.” reads the advisory published by the virtualization giant. “The VMSA outlines a number of issues that are resolved in this patch release. The most urgent addresses CVE-2021-22005, a file upload vulnerability that can be used to execute commands and software on the vCenter Server Appliance. This vulnerability can be used by anyone who can reach vCenter Server over the network to gain access, regardless of the configuration settings of vCenter Server.”

While the company urges its customers to immediately apply the security patch to fix the vulnerability, threat actors started scanning the internet for vulnerable systems.

The threat intelligence firm Bad Packets reported that scanning activity for this vulnerability started immediately after the virtualization giant addressed the flaw.

Researchers from BleepingComputer also reported that threat actors have started to exploit CVE-2021-22005 using code released by security researcher Jang.

VMware confirmed it is aware of threat actors exploiting the flaw in the wild.

“The VMSA outlines a number of issues that are resolved in this patch release. The most urgent addresses CVE-2021-22005, a file upload vulnerability that can be used to execute commands and software on the vCenter Server Appliance. This vulnerability can be used by anyone who can reach vCenter Server over the network to gain access, regardless of the configuration settings of vCenter Server.” reads a post published by VMWare.

Now a different exploit code for the vulnerability is circulating online, it allows remote attackers to open a reverse shell on a vulnerable system and execute arbitrary code.

The researcher wvu released an unredacted PoC exploit for CVE-2021-22005 that works against systems with the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) component enabled (default configuration).

Experts have no doubts, the availability of the exploit will cause a spike in the number of attacks targeting systems vulnerable to this vulnerability.

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook

[adrotate banner=”9″]

[adrotate banner=”12″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, VMware)

[adrotate banner=”5″]

[adrotate banner=”13″]

Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.