VMware ESX Server management interface logs passwords in cleartext in a world-readable file

Overview

Certain versions of VMware ESX Server store passwords in a cleartext file that all users have read permissions to.

Description

Per the VMware ESX Server datasheet:

ESX Server installs directly on the server hardware, or “bare metal,” and inserts a robust virtualization layer between the hardware and the operating system. ESX Server partitions a physical server into multiple secure and portable virtual machines that can run side by side on the same physical server.

VMware ESX server includes a web interface that can be used for remote management. On affected versions, when a user changes their password, the new credentials are recorded in the server logs as plain text files in directories that all users can read.

The affected versions of VMware ESX server are:

* VMware ESX prior to 2.5.3 upgrade patch 2
* VMware ESX prior to 2.1.3 upgrade patch 1
* VMware ESX prior to 2.0.2 upgrade patch 1  

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Impact

Local users can read the passwords of any user who changed their password through the web interface.

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Solution

Upgrad****eVMware has issued upgrades that address this issue. Refer to VMware ESX Server 2.5.3 Upgrade Patch 2, VMware ESX Server 2.1.3 Upgrade Patch 1, or VMware ESX Server 2.0.2 Upgrade Patch 1 for more details.

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Vendor Information

822476

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Updated: August 24, 2006

Status

Affected

Vendor Statement

We have not received a statement from the vendor.

Vendor Information

The vendor has not provided us with any further information regarding this vulnerability.

Addendum

See VMware Security Advisory VMSA-2006-0004 for more details.

If you have feedback, comments, or additional information about this vulnerability, please send us [email](<mailto:[email protected]?Subject=VU%23822476 Feedback>).

CVSS Metrics

Group	Score	Vector
Base
Temporal
Environmental

References

• <http://secunia.com/advisories/21230/&gt;
• <http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2118366&gt;
• <http://www.vmware.com/download/esx/esx-253-200606-patch.html&gt;

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Corsaire for reporting this vulnerability.

This document was written by Ryan Giobbi.

Other Information

CVE IDs:	CVE-2005-3620
Severity Metric:	0.31 Date Public: