VMware product updates address critical Bash security vulnerabilities

a. Bash update for multiple products.

Bash libraries have been updated in multiple products to resolve multiple critical security issues, also referred to as Shellshock.

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the identifiers CVE-2014-6271, CVE-2014-7169, CVE-2014-7186, and CVE-2014-7187, CVE-2014-6277, CVE-2014-6278 to these issues.

VMware products have been grouped into the following four product categories:

I) ESXi and ESX Hypervisor
ESXi is not affected because ESXi uses the Ash shell (through busybox), which is not affected by the vulnerability reported for the Bash shell. ESX has an affected version of the Bash shell.
See table 1 for remediation for ESX.

II) Windows-based products
Windows-based products, including all versions of vCenter Server running on Windows, are not affected.

III) VMware (virtual) appliances
VMware (virtual) appliances ship with an affected version of Bash.
See table 2 for remediation for appliances.

IV) Products that run on Linux, Android, OSX or iOS (excluding virtual appliances)
Products that run on Linux, Android, OSX or iOS (excluding virtual appliances) might use the Bash shell that is part of the operating system. If the operating system has a vulnerable version of Bash, the Bash security vulnerability might be exploited through the product. VMware recommends that customers contact their operating system vendor for a patch.

MITIGATIONS

VMware encourages restricting access to appliances through firewall rules and other network layer controls to only trusted IP addresses. This measure will greatly reduce any risk to these appliances.

RECOMMENDATIONS

VMware recommends customers evaluate and deploy patches for affected products in Table 1 and 2 below as these patches become available.

For several products, both a patch and a product update are available. In general, if a patch is made available, the patch must be applied to the latest version of the appliance.

Customers should refer to the specific product Knowledge Base articles listed in Section 4 to understand the type of remediation available and applicable appliance version numbers.

Column 4 of the following tables lists the action required to remediate the vulnerability in each release, if a solution is available.

Table 1 - ESXi and ESX Hypervisor