CVE-2021-22048: The vCenter Server contains a privilege escalation vulnerability in the IWA (Integrated Windows Authentication) authentication mechanism. A malicious actor…

PriorityP263high8.8CVSS 3.1

AVNACLPRLUINSUCHIHAH

EPSS

9.98%

95.1th percentile

The vCenter Server contains a privilege escalation vulnerability in the IWA (Integrated Windows Authentication) authentication mechanism. A malicious actor with non-administrative access to vCenter Server may exploit this issue to elevate privileges to a higher privileged group.

Affected

5 ranges

Vendor	Product	Version range	Fixed in
vmware	cloud_foundation	3.0 – 3.10.2.2	—
vmware	cloud_foundation	4.0 – 4.1.0.1	—
vmware	vcenter_server	—	—
vmware	vcenter_server	—	—
vmware	vcenter_server	—	—

Detection & IOCsextracted from sources · hover to see the quote

→Vulnerability exists specifically in the IWA (Integrated Windows Authentication) authentication mechanism of vCenter Server; monitor for privilege escalation attempts by non-administrative users authenticating via IWA ↗
→Affected products include VMware vCenter Server, VMware Cloud Foundation, and vSphere; audit group membership changes in vCenter for unexpected privilege escalations by non-admin accounts ↗

·The privilege escalation vulnerability is specific to the IWA (Integrated Windows Authentication) authentication mechanism; environments not using IWA may have reduced exposure ↗
·Exploitation requires at least non-administrative access to vCenter Server; fully unauthenticated exploitation is not indicated ↗

CVSS provenance

nvdv3.18.8HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

nvdv2.06.5MEDIUMAV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:P

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