VMware on Tuesday informed customers about the availability of patches for arbitrary file read and server-side request forgery (SSRF) vulnerabilities affecting its vCenter Server product.
The arbitrary file read issue, tracked as CVE-2021-21980 and rated “high severity” (important), affects the vSphere Web Client and it could be exploited to obtain sensitive information by an attacker who has network access to port 443 on vCenter Server.
The second flaw, identified as CVE-2021-22049 and rated “medium severity” (moderate), affects the vSphere Web Client, specifically the vSAN Web Client plug-in.
“A malicious actor with network access to port 443 on vCenter Server may exploit this issue by accessing a URL request outside of vCenter Server or accessing an internal service,” VMware said in its advisory.
Patches have been released for affected vCenter Server versions and they are pending for Cloud Foundation. Workarounds are not available.
It’s important that vCenter Server users install the patches as soon as possible, as it’s not uncommon for malicious actors to target these types of servers. There are typically thousands of vCenter servers that are exposed to the internet, and many of them could be vulnerable to attacks.
One of the recently exploited vCenter vulnerabilities, CVE-2021-22005, was first targeted the day after VMware announced the availability of patches. Exploitation of CVE-2021-22005 also requires network access to port 443.
Earlier this month, VMware informed customers that it had started working on patches for a high-severity privilege escalation flaw affecting vCenter Server. Two weeks have passed since the release of the advisory, but patches are still not available — VMware recommends applying workarounds until fixes are released.
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Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a contributing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.
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