Actively exploited vulnerability
VMware vCenter Server: memory corruption flaw under attack
CVE-2024-38812 · VMware vCenter Server Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Vulnerability
What is affected
VMware vCenter Server is mostly run by companies, schools and public bodies, not on home computers. You are unlikely to have it yourself, but organisations that hold your data may. Breaches that start with flaws like this one are how personal data ends up leaked.
VMware vCenter Server contains a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in the implementation of the DCERPC protocol. This vulnerability could allow an attacker with network access to the vCenter Server to execute remote code by sending a specially crafted packet.
What an attacker can do
This is a memory corruption flaw. It lets an attacker corrupt the program's memory by feeding it specially crafted content: a web page, a file or a network message. The result ranges from a crash to the attacker running their own code.
- How it is reached
- Over the internet or network
- Access the attacker needs
- No account needed
- Does the victim have to do something?
- No, works without the victim doing anything
What to do
- At home: nothing to install. Keep your own devices updated and use a different password for every service, so that a breach at one organisation does not open your other accounts.
- If you administer VMware vCenter Server at work: apply the vendor's fix or mitigation now and review logs for signs of compromise, because the flaw was being exploited before it was listed.
- If the product is past its support date and no fix exists, take it off the internet or retire it.
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Vendor advisories and fixes
- support.broadcom.comsupport.broadcom.com/web/ecx/support-content-notification/-/external/content/SecurityAdvis
How urgent is it
CISA added this vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue on November 20, 2024, which means there is reliable evidence of attacks in the wild. US federal agencies must fix it by December 11, 2024, a deadline that has already passed. That deadline does not bind anyone else, but it shows how seriously the agency rates it.
The EPSS model estimates a 55% probability that this flaw will be exploited somewhere in the next 30 days. That is higher than 99% of all scored vulnerabilities.
Its CVSS severity score is 9.8 out of 10 (critical), as recorded in the US National Vulnerability Database.
Technical description
The vCenter Server contains a heap-overflow vulnerability in the implementation of the DCERPC protocol. A malicious actor with network access to vCenter Server may trigger this vulnerability by sending a specially crafted network packet potentially leading to remote code execution.