CVE-2020-3992
VMware ESXi OpenSLP Use-After-Free Vulnerability
Does this matter?
Known to be exploited in the wild (CISA KEV, CISA remediation deadline 3 May 2022). Treat as an emergency change: patch or isolate now, then hunt for prior compromise.
Description
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.
- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 83.02% probability · 100th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Listed 3 November 2021 · due 3 May 2022 · used in ransomware campaigns
- Weakness
- CWE-416
- Affected
- vmware/cloud foundation · vmware/esxi
- Source
- security@vmware.com
EPSS 83.0% since 30 October 2026; no change recorded yet. The dashed line is the ten per cent mark our analysts treat as “patch before the next change window”. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
CISA notes
Apply updates per vendor instructions. https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-3992
References
- https://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2020-0023.htmlPatch, Vendor Advisory
- https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-20-1377/Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-20-1385/Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2020-0023.htmlPatch, Vendor Advisory
- https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-20-1377/Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-20-1385/Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2020-3992US Government Resource
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.