# CVE-2026-22721: VMware Aria Operations privilege escalation vulnerability

> A malicious actor with vCenter access can escalate privileges to obtain administrative control over VMware Aria Operations.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.2 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 25 Feb 2026
- **Updated:** 27 Feb 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-p743-h3f6-5f74

## What is CVE-2026-22721?

CVE-2026-22721 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Vmware Cloud Foundation, published on 25 Feb 2026. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

VMware Aria Operations contains a privilege escalation vulnerability. A malicious actor with privileges in vCenter to access Aria Operations may leverage this vulnerability to obtain administrative access in VMware Aria Operations. To remediate CVE-2026-22721, apply the patches listed in the 'Fixed Version' column of the 'Response Matrix' found in  VMSA-2026-0001 https://support.broadcom.com/web/ecx/support-content-notification/-/external/content/SecurityAdvisories/0/36947 .

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-22721?

It affects 4 products.


Products: Vmware Aria Operations, Vmware Cloud Foundation, Vmware Telco Cloud Infrastructure, Vmware Telco Cloud Platform.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-22721?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-22721 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-22721 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-22721 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Vmware Cloud Foundation

- [CVE-2026-22719](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-22719/): Broadcom VMware Aria Operations Command Injection (high 8.1, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-41722](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-41722/): Cross-site scripting in VCF operations (high 8.0)
- [CVE-2026-41723](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-41723/): Cross-site scripting in VCF operations (high 8.0)
- [CVE-2026-41724](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-41724/): Cross-site scripting in VCF operations (high 8.0)
- [CVE-2026-22720](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-22720/): VMware Aria Operations stored cross-site scripting vulnerability (high 8.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-22721 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-22721 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Vmware Cloud Foundation, published on 25 Feb 2026. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-22721 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Vmware Cloud Foundation. 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-2026-22721/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-22721/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-22721
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-22721
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-22721

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-22721/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.