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Cloud FoundationApplication · VMware

CVE-2021-22025

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-08-30
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 8.5.0 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges 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 vRealize Operations Manager API (8.x prior to 8.5) contains a broken access control vulnerability leading to unauthenticated API access. An unauthenticated malicious actor with network access to the vRealize Operations Manager API can add new nodes to existing vROps cluster.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-287

The mechanism that verifies who a user is can be side-stepped or fooled, letting an attacker act as someone they're not. Everything built on top of that identity then becomes untrustworthy. Fixing it means hardening the full authentication flow, including edge cases, tokens, and secondary paths.

General guidance for the improper authentication class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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, <= 3.10.2.1>= 4.0, <= 4.2.1
Vrealize Operations ManagerApplication
Affected:>= 8.0.0, < 8.5.0= 7.5.0
Vrealize Suite Lifecycle ManagerApplication
Affected:>= 8.0, <= 8.2

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

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

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 8.5.0 or later
Fixed in 8.5.0
Vendor patch www.vmware.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

vRealize Operations Manager 8.5.0 or later (specific fixed versions vary by product; see VMSA-2021-0018)

  1. Review VMware Security Advisory VMSA-2021-0018 for complete patch information
  2. Schedule a maintenance window for the upgrade
  3. Back up the current vRealize Operations Manager configuration and data
  4. For vRealize Operations Manager: Upgrade to version 8.5.0 or later (the fixed release)
  5. For Cloud Foundation: Upgrade to a version beyond 3.10.2.1 or 4.2.1 as specified in the advisory
  6. For vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager: Upgrade to a version beyond 8.2 as specified in the advisory
  7. Verify the upgrade completed successfully
  8. Validate that the vulnerability is patched by checking the version and running any provided VMware diagnostic tools
Caveat Standard upgrade risks apply; test in non-production environment first; review VMware upgrade documentation for your specific product version

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

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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-2021-22025 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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