# CVE-2020-3956: Code injection in VMware Cloud Director

> An authenticated attacker can achieve arbitrary remote code execution in VMware Cloud Director via malicious traffic through UIs or APIs.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 20 May 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-6m5g-75wx-jxgj

## What is CVE-2020-3956?

CVE-2020-3956 is a high-severity code injection vulnerability in VMware Cloud Director, published on 20 May 2020. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

VMware Cloud Director 10.0.x before 10.0.0.2, 9.7.0.x before 9.7.0.5, 9.5.0.x before 9.5.0.6, and 9.1.0.x before 9.1.0.4 do not properly handle input leading to a code injection vulnerability. An authenticated actor may be able to send malicious traffic to VMware Cloud Director which may lead to arbitrary remote code execution. This vulnerability can be exploited through the HTML5- and Flex-based UIs, the API Explorer interface and API access.

Weakness: CWE-917 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an Expression Language Statement)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-3956?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Vmware Vcloud Director.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-3956?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-3956 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-3956 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-3956 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code:

- PoC exploit for VMware Cloud Director RCE (CVE-2020-3956) (github_poc): https://github.com/aaronsvk/CVE-2020-3956
- vCloud Director 9.7.0.15498291 - Remote Code Execution (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in VMware Cloud Director

- [CVE-2019-5523](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-5523/): Auth bypass in VMware vCloud Director for Service Providers (vCD) (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2022-22966](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-22966/): Code injection in VMware Cloud Director (high 7.2)
- [CVE-2014-1211](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-1211/): Cross-site request forgery in n/a (medium 6.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-3956 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-3956 is a high-severity code injection vulnerability in VMware Cloud Director, published on 20 May 2020. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-3956 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: VMware Cloud Director. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3956/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3956/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-3956
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-3956
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-3956

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3956/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.