CVE-2023-20867
VMware Tools Authentication Bypass Vulnerability
Does this matter?
Known to be exploited in the wild (CISA KEV, CISA remediation deadline 14 July 2023). Treat as an emergency change: patch or isolate now, then hunt for prior compromise.
Description
A fully compromised ESXi host can force VMware Tools to fail to authenticate host-to-guest operations, impacting the confidentiality and integrity of the guest virtual machine.
- CVSS 3.1
- 3.9 LOWCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
- EPSS
- 13.64% probability · 96th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Listed 23 June 2023 · due 14 July 2023
- Weakness
- CWE-287
- Affected
- vmware/tools · debian/debian linux · fedoraproject/fedora
- Source
- security@vmware.com
EPSS 13.6% 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://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2023-0013.html; https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-20867
References
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/10/16/11Mailing List, Patch
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/10/16/2Mailing List, Patch
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/08/msg00020.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/NVKQ6Y2JFJRWPFOZUOTFO3H27BK5GGOG/Mailing List, Release Notes
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/TJNJMD67QIT6LXLKWSHFM47DCLRSMT6W/Mailing List, Release Notes
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/ZJM6HDRQYS74JA7YNKQBFH2XSZ52HEWH/Mailing List, Release Notes
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230725-0001/Third Party Advisory
- https://www.debian.org/security/2023/dsa-5493Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2023-0013.htmlPatch, Vendor Advisory
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/10/16/11Mailing List, Patch
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/10/16/2Mailing List, Patch
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/08/msg00020.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/NVKQ6Y2JFJRWPFOZUOTFO3H27BK5GGOG/Mailing List, Release Notes
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/TJNJMD67QIT6LXLKWSHFM47DCLRSMT6W/Mailing List, Release Notes
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/ZJM6HDRQYS74JA7YNKQBFH2XSZ52HEWH/Mailing List, Release Notes
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230725-0001/Third Party Advisory
- https://www.debian.org/security/2023/dsa-5493Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2023-0013.htmlPatch, Vendor Advisory
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2023-20867US Government Resource
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.