Cloud FoundationApplication · VMware
CVE-2023-20877
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 Aria Operations contains a privilege escalation vulnerability. An authenticated malicious user with ReadOnly privileges can perform code execution leading to privilege escalation.
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 confidenceVMware Aria Operations has a privilege escalation vulnerability where an authenticated user with only ReadOnly permissions can execute arbitrary code, allowing them to escalate privileges to administrator-level access. The vulnerability stems from insufficient authorization checks that can be bypassed by a malicious ReadOnly user to inject and execute code.
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
>= 4.0, <= 4.5
Vrealize OperationsApplication
= 8.6.0= 8.10.0CVSS 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
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed VMware productCheck if VMware Aria Operations, VMware vRealize Operations, or VMware Cloud Foundation is installed in your environment. Look for the installation directory or check installed packages.Affected if Any of these products are installed and the version falls within the affected ranges.
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Determine product versionUse the product's admin UI or command line to check the installed version. For vRealize Operations, this is typically found in the About section of the administration interface or via the / Suite API endpoint.Affected if The installed version is VMware Cloud Foundation 4.0 through 4.5 inclusive, or vRealize Operations version 8.6.0 or 8.10.0.
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Verify ReadOnly user accounts existCheck the user management section of the VMware Aria Operations admin interface to list accounts assigned the ReadOnly role.Affected if Any ReadOnly user accounts are present in the system.
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Review user role assignmentsAudit the role assignments for all users through the administration settings. Look for accounts with ReadOnly permissions that were not intentionally granted additional privileges.Affected if A ReadOnly user has unexpectedly been granted administrator or elevated privileges beyond their assigned role.
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Inspect for unauthorized code executionReview system logs, especially audit logs and command execution history, for any actions performed by ReadOnly users that indicate code execution or configuration changes.Affected if Logs show that ReadOnly users have executed commands, modified configurations, or performed actions that require higher privileges than ReadOnly.
You are affected if VMware Cloud Foundation 4.0-4.5 or vRealize Operations 8.6.0/8.10.0 is installed and a ReadOnly user has been able to perform administrator-level actions or if such a user exists in the environment.
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 dataApply the VMware security patch for CVE-2023-20877. Additionally, review user role assignments and monitor for any suspicious activity from ReadOnly accounts until the patch is deployed.
Fix this in Cloud Foundation
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-20877 — 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-2023-20877 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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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.
- 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