CVE-2021-22042 Privilege escalation in VMware ESXi and VMware Cloud Foundation
A malicious actor with VMX process privileges can escalate to high-privileged settingsd service access in VMware ESXi.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2021-22042?
CVE-2021-22042 is a high-severity vulnerability in Vmware Cloud Foundation, published on 16 Feb 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
VMware ESXi contains an unauthorized access vulnerability due to VMX having access to settingsd authorization tickets. A malicious actor with privileges within the VMX process only, may be able to access settingsd service running as a high privileged user.
Weakness: CWE-863
Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-22042?
It affects 2 products.
Products include Vmware Cloud Foundation, Vmware Esxi.
How do I fix CVE-2021-22042?
No fix has been published for CVE-2021-22042 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Is CVE-2021-22042 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-22042 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Vmware Cloud Foundation
- CVE-2024-38812 VMware vCenter Server Heap-Based Buffer Overflow
- CVE-2024-37079 Broadcom VMware vCenter Server Out-of-bounds Write
- CVE-2022-22954 VMware Workspace ONE Access and Identity Manager Server-Side Template Injection
- CVE-2021-22005 VMware vCenter Server File Upload
- CVE-2021-21985 VMware vCenter Server Improper Input Validation
Sources
Also known as GHSA-j79m-7c8r-83mc.