dbcve.org
Cloud FoundationApplication · VMware

CVE-2021-22015

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-09-23
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.0 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Public exploit Zero-click Patch available

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 · unedited
The vCenter Server contains multiple local privilege escalation vulnerabilities due to improper permissions of files and directories. An authenticated local user with non-administrative privilege may exploit these issues to elevate their privileges to root on vCenter Server Appliance.

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

A detailed technical summary for this CVE is being prepared.

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
Cloud FoundationApplication
Affected:>= 3.0, < 5.0
Vcenter ServerApplication
Affected:= 6.5= 6.7= 7.0

CVSS 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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.0 or later
Fixed in 5.0
Vendor patch www.vmware.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to vCenter Server 7.0 U3, 6.7 U3, or 6.5 U3 (or later respective updates) as specified in VMSA-2021-0020

  1. Review the VMware Security Advisory VMSA-2021-0020 for complete patch information
  2. Download the appropriate patched version of vCenter Server for your specific version (6.5, 6.7, or 7.0) from the VMware Customer Connect portal
  3. Take a complete backup of the vCenter Server Appliance before proceeding
  4. Schedule a maintenance window as upgrades require downtime
  5. Upload the upgrade bundle to the vCenter Server Appliance
  6. Run the upgrade using the built-in update planner or the command line: 'software-packages install --iso --acceptEulas'
  7. Verify the upgrade completed successfully by checking the vCenter Server health status
  8. Confirm the file permissions have been corrected by reviewing the patch release notes
Caveat Ensure compatibility of your VMware environment with the target update level before upgrading; review VMware Product Interoperability Matrix

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,950. Get the upgrade done

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-22015 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-22015 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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