App VolumesApplication · VMware
CVE-2020-3975
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedVMware App Volumes 2.x prior to 2.18.6 and VMware App Volumes 4 prior to 2006 contain a Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability. A malicious actor with access to create and edit applications or create storage groups, may be able to inject malicious script which will be executed by a victim's browser when viewing.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceVMware App Volumes 2.x before 2.18.6 and 4 before 2006 contain a stored XSS vulnerability where an authenticated attacker with privileges to create/edit applications or storage groups can inject malicious JavaScript that executes in victim browsers when viewing the poisoned content.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
App VolumesApplication
>= 2.0, < 2.18.6>= 4, < 2006CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check installed App Volumes versionLog into the App Volumes Manager console and navigate to the System section, or run: get-service -Name 'App Volumes Manager' and check the installed packages via the registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.\App Volumes\Manager for the Version valueAffected if The version is 2.0 through 2.18.5, or 4.0 through 4.x before 2006
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Identify users with application creation privilegesIn the App Volumes Manager console, go to Users > Administrators and review which users or groups have the Application Creator or similar role assignedAffected if Low-privilege users (non-administrators) can create or edit applications, creating an attack vector
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Identify users with storage group privilegesIn the App Volumes Manager console, go to Storage > Storage Groups and review the permissions on each storage group to see which users can create or edit storage groupsAffected if Low-privilege users can create or edit storage groups, creating an attack vector
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Inspect application definitions for suspicious contentIn the App Volumes Manager console, navigate to Applications > Applications and examine the Name, Description, and other text fields of each application for unusual script tags (<script>), JavaScript event handlers (onerror, onload, onclick), or encoded payloadsAffected if Any application entry contains JavaScript code or HTML tags in user-supplied fields that could execute in a victim's browser
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Inspect storage groups for suspicious contentIn the App Volumes Manager console, navigate to Storage > Storage Groups and examine the Name, Description, and path fields of each storage group for script tags or event handlersAffected if Any storage group entry contains executable code in text fields
You are affected if your App Volumes version is below 2.18.6 (2.x line) or below 2006 (4.x line) AND low-privilege users have access to create/edit applications or storage groups, or if you discover malicious script payloads already injected into application or storage group records.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor data2.18.62006
Upgrade to VMware App Volumes 2.18.6 or 2006 (or later), or implement output encoding and input validation on all user-supplied fields in the application and storage group creation interfaces.
Fix this in App Volumes
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-3975 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-3975 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data