# CVE-2020-3985: Privilege escalation in VMware SD-WAN Orchestrator

> An authenticated user can exploit a vulnerable API to elevate privileges in VMware SD-WAN Orchestrator.

- **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:** 24 Nov 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-c4hp-f86j-vc55

## What is CVE-2020-3985?

CVE-2020-3985 is a high-severity vulnerability in VMware SD-WAN Orchestrator, published on 24 Nov 2020. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The SD-WAN Orchestrator 3.3.2 prior to 3.3.2 P3 and 3.4.x prior to 3.4.4 allows an access to set arbitrary authorization levels leading to a privilege escalation issue. An authenticated SD-WAN Orchestrator user may exploit an application weakness and call a vulnerable API to elevate their privileges.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-3985?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Vmware Sd-Wan Orchestrator.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-3985?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-3985 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-3985 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-3985 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in VMware SD-WAN Orchestrator

- [CVE-2020-4001](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-4001/): Hardcoded credentials in VMware SD-WAN Orchestrator (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-4000](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-4000/): Path traversal in VMware SD-WAN Orchestrator (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2020-4002](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-4002/): Command injection in VMware SD-WAN Orchestrator (high 7.2)
- [CVE-2020-3984](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3984/): SQL injection in VMware SD-WAN Orchestrator (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2020-4003](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-4003/): SQL injection in VMware SD-WAN Orchestrator (medium 6.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-3985 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-3985 is a high-severity vulnerability in VMware SD-WAN Orchestrator, published on 24 Nov 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-2020-3985 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: VMware SD-WAN Orchestrator. 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-2020-3985/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3985/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-3985
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-3985
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-3985

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3985/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.