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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 6 May 2022.
Cloud FoundationApplication · VMware

CVE-2022-22960

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-04-13
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.0 / 9.0 or later.
See remediation →
96/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild 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
VMware Workspace ONE Access, Identity Manager and vRealize Automation contain a privilege escalation vulnerability due to improper permissions in support scripts. A malicious actor with local access can escalate privileges to 'root'.

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 · moderate confidence

VMware Workspace ONE Access, Identity Manager, and vRealize Automation contain a local privilege escalation vulnerability where improper file permissions on support scripts allow an authenticated local attacker to execute code with root privileges. The vulnerability stems from overly permissive script files that can be modified or executed to gain elevated access.

MitigationApply vendor-provided patches for CVE-2022-22960 and review support script permissions to ensure they are not world-writable or executable by low-privilege users. Restrict script file permissions to root-only access.

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
Cloud FoundationApplication
Affected:>= 3.0, < 5.0
Identity ManagerApplication
Affected:= 3.3.3= 3.3.4= 3.3.5= 3.3.6
Vrealize AutomationApplication
Affected:= 7.6
Vrealize Suite Lifecycle ManagerApplication
Affected:>= 8.0, < 9.0
Workspace One AccessApplication
Affected:= 20.10.0.0= 20.10.0.1= 21.08.0.0= 21.08.0.1

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

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed product and version
    Run 'rpm -qa | grep -i vmware' or check the product's about/version page in the admin console to determine the exact product name and version installed
    Affected if The installed version matches one of the affected versions: VMware Cloud Foundation 3.0-4.x, VMware Identity Manager 3.3.3-3.3.6, VMware vRealize Automation 7.6, VMware vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager 8.0-8.x, or VMware Workspace ONE Access 20.10.0.0-20.10.0.1 and 21.08.0.0-21.08.0.1
  2. Locate support scripts in the installation directory
    Search the product installation directory (typically under /opt/vmware or /var/opt/vmware) for scripts in 'support', 'scripts', 'tools', or 'bin' subdirectories that are owned by root and may execute with elevated privileges
    Affected if Support scripts exist that are owned by root and executable by any user (world-executable) or executable with setuid/setgid bits
  3. Check file permissions on support scripts
    Run 'ls -la <script_path>' on identified support scripts and examine the permission bits - look for 'rwxr-xr-x' (world-executable) or 'rwsr-xr-x' (setuid) permissions
    Affected if Any support script has world-executable permissions (octal 755 or greater) or has setuid/setgid bits set, allowing non-root users to execute it with root privileges
  4. Verify script execution context
    Inspect the script contents (head -20 <script_path>) to determine if it runs commands as root or invokes other privileged binaries
    Affected if The script executes commands as root (sudo, su, or runs as root user) and has permissive file permissions accessible to low-privileged users

The environment is affected if the installed product version matches the affected list AND world-executable or setuid support scripts exist in the installation that can be run by authenticated local users to gain root access.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.0 / 9.0 or later
Fixed in 5.09.0
Vendor patch www.vmware.com →
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor-provided patches for CVE-2022-22960 and review support script permissions to ensure they are not world-writable or executable by low-privilege users. Restrict script file permissions to root-only access.

Fix this in Cloud Foundation Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,130
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2022-22960 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