CVSS3
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
HIGH
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact
HIGH
Integrity Impact
HIGH
Availability Impact
HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
AI Score
Confidence
High
EPSS
Percentile
86.7%
VMware ESXi contains an authentication bypass vulnerability. A malicious actor with sufficient Active Directory (AD) permissions can gain full access to an ESXi host that was previously configured to use AD for user management <https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/09/joining-vsphere-hosts-to-active-directory.html> by re-creating the configured AD group (âESXi Adminsâ by default) after it was deleted from AD.
Recent assessments:
remmons-r7 at July 29, 2024 9:42pm UTC reported:
CVE-2024-37085, a vulnerability affecting domain-joined VMWare ESXi, was first published on June 25, 2024. It was reported to Broadcom by Microsoft, who published their own blog post on July 29, 2024 that stated it was being exploited in the wild to deploy ransomware. The premise of the vulnerability is that domain-joined ESXi will automatically check for a certain Active Directory group. If the group name exists, all members of that group will be granted admin privileges over the ESXi server. An attacker with the ability to create AD groups or change the name of an existing AD group can set up the group, resulting in all AD group members gaining administrator privileges over the ESXi server. Interestingly, a Broadcom KB entry documents this behavior as a feature.
The original Broadcom advisory states that exploitation requires âre-creating the configured AD group (âESXi Adminsâ by default) after it was deleted from AD.â This would indicate a non-standard configuration, since the administrators group would have to be intentionally deleted for ESXi to be vulnerable. However, Microsoftâs blog post on the vulnerability from July indicates the exact opposite.
Microsoftâs post from July 29. 2024 states that âVMware ESXi hypervisors joined to an Active Directory domain consider any member of a domain group named âESX Adminsâ to have full administrative access by default. This group is not a built-in group in Active Directory and does not exist by default.â Based on Microsoftâs statement, the vulnerability affects all domain-joined ESXi servers in the default configuration, since the âESX Adminsâ group is not created by default.
Furthermore, as shown above, each vendor has stated a different group name targeted for exploitation. Broadcom documentation indicates that ESXi will grant admin access to any users in an Active Directory group called âESXi Adminsâ (1, 2), while Microsoft makes no mention of âESXi Adminsâ and instead advises to be on the lookout for âESX Adminsâ.
To escalate to ESXi administrator privileges, an attacker must be able to create or rename an AD group. Depending on whether youâre referencing Broadcomâs information or Microsoftâs, the attacker will set an AD group name to either âESXi Adminsâ or âESX Adminsâ. All users in that group will then be elevated to administrator. Microsoft also states that existing administrators will remain elevated, even if an ESXi administrator modifies the name of the management group. According to Microsoft, this persistence vector is mitigated by initiating an ESXi Hypervisor Privileges refresh.
Thereâs a lot of mixed messaging here, so hopefully more clarity will arrive soon. As it stands, itâs likely best to assume that AD-joined ESXi is vulnerable out of the box and does not create the group by default. Defenders should also consider both the âESX Adminsâ and âESXi Adminsâ groups to potentially be valid avenues of exploitation until more information is shared by the vendor. In addition to remediating the vulnerability with the official Broadcom patches, defenders should check whether either of these two groups have been created and initiate an ESXi Privileges Refresh to ensure privileges are up to date.
Assessed Attacker Value: 5
Assessed Attacker Value: 5Assessed Attacker Value: 4
CVSS3
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
HIGH
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact
HIGH
Integrity Impact
HIGH
Availability Impact
HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
AI Score
Confidence
High
EPSS
Percentile
86.7%