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Vcenter ServerApplication · VMware

CVE-2024-37081

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-06-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.2 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

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 misconfiguration of sudo. An authenticated local user with non-administrative privileges may exploit these issues to elevate 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 · moderate confidence

vCenter Server Appliance contains sudo misconfigurations that allow authenticated local users with non-administrative privileges to execute privileged commands as root, enabling full system compromise through improper sudoers file entries.

MitigationAudit and remediate sudoers configuration to remove or restrict excessive sudo permissions for non-privileged users, following VMware security advisories and least-privilege principles.

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
Vcenter ServerApplication
Affected:= 8.0= 7.0
Cloud FoundationApplication
Affected:>= 4.0, < 5.2

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
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 the VMware product type
    Determine if the system is running VMware vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) or VMware Cloud Foundation by checking the product name or known system identifiers.
    Affected if The system is either vCenter Server Appliance or VMware Cloud Foundation.
  2. Check the installed Vcenter Server or Cloud Foundation version
    Run 'vpxd -v' or check the VMware Appliance Management Interface (VAMI) for the exact version number, or use 'vimsh -n -e "invokegetconfig vpxd.product_version"'
    Affected if The version is 8.0, 7.0, or for Cloud Foundation any version >= 4.0 and < 5.2.
  3. Review sudoers file permissions
    Examine /etc/sudoers and files in /etc/sudoers.d/ for entries that grant root privileges to non-administrative users or service accounts.
    Affected if Non-privileged local users or service accounts have sudo permissions allowing execution of arbitrary commands as root.
  4. Enumerate local users with sudo privileges
    Run 'sudo -l -U <username>' for known local users, or use 'getent passwd' to list local users and check each one's sudo access.
    Affected if Any authenticated local user with non-administrative privileges can list sudo rules that permit root command execution.
  5. Verify user privilege levels
    Check /etc/group for membership in groups like root, wheel, or administrator-equivalent groups for non-admin service accounts.
    Affected if Users assigned to privileged groups do not require administrative privileges in the vCenter context.

A user is affected if the system runs vCenter Server 7.0/8.0 or Cloud Foundation 4.x-5.1.x AND any local non-administrative user has sudo permissions to run commands as root.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.2 or later
Fixed in 5.2
Interim mitigation

Audit and remediate sudoers configuration to remove or restrict excessive sudo permissions for non-privileged users, following VMware security advisories and least-privilege principles.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

vCenter Server 8.0 U2+ or 7.0 U2+ (contact Broadcom for exact patch bundles); Cloud Foundation 5.2+

  1. Check current vCenter Server Appliance version: `vpxd -v` or from the vSphere Client UI under System > Summary
  2. For vCenter Server 7.0: Upgrade to a version that includes the security patch for CVE-2024-37081 (contact Broadcom support for specific patch bundle)
  3. For vCenter Server 8.0: Upgrade to a version that includes the security patch for CVE-2024-37081 (contact Broadcom support for specific patch bundle)
  4. For Cloud Foundation: Upgrade to version 5.2 or later which addresses this vulnerability
  5. Ensure you have valid backups and snapshots before performing any upgrade
  6. Schedule maintenance window as upgrades require downtime
  7. Follow standard vCenter Server upgrade procedure via the UI or command line
  8. Verify the fix by checking the vCenter Server version post-upgrade and confirming sudo configurations have been remediated
Caveat Standard vCenter upgrade considerations apply - review compatibility matrices, ensure backup, test in staging if possible

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

Fix this in Vcenter Server Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,330
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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-2024-37081 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