Exploited· due 2022-05-039.8criticalCriticalused in ransomware

CVE-2020-3992

Vmware Cloud Foundation

OpenSLP as used in VMware ESXi (7.0 before ESXi_7.0.1-0.0.16850804, 6.7 before ESXi670-202010401-SG, 6.5 before ESXi650-202010401-SG) has a use-after-free issue. A malicious actor residing in the management network who has access to port 427 on an ESXi machine may be able to trigger a use-after-free in the OpenSLP service resulting in remote code execution.

Exploitation status

  • CISA has confirmed this is being exploited in the wild. That is an observation of real attacks, not a prediction.
  • It is known to have been used in ransomware campaigns.
  • US federal civilian agencies are required to remediate it by 2022-05-03. That deadline does not bind private companies, but it is a reasonable benchmark for how urgently CISA views it.
  • A vendor advisory or patch reference has been published.

Required action

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

CISA’s wording, unedited.

What the metrics mean

  • It is reachable over a network, without needing local access.
  • For an attacker who can reach it, no special conditions are needed to exploit it.
  • To exploit it, no account is needed.
  • Beyond that, no action by a user is required.

Scoring

CVSS
9.8 (v3.1)
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness
CWE-416
Assigned by
security@vmware.com

Dates

Published
2020-10-20
Last modified
2026-08-12
Added to KEV
2021-11-03
Remediation due
2022-05-03
Sources
CISA KEV, NVD

Affected products

  • Vmware Cloud Foundation3.0 - 3.10.1.2, 4.0 - 4.1.0.1
  • Vmware Esxi6.5, 6.7, 7.0.0

As listed in the NVD configuration data. Not a statement about your estate.

References