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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 11 Dec 2024.
Cloud FoundationApplication · VMware

CVE-2024-38813

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-09-17
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.2 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Remotely reachable No privileges 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 a privilege escalation vulnerability. A malicious actor with network access to vCenter Server may trigger this vulnerability to escalate privileges to root by sending a specially crafted network packet.

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 contains a privilege escalation vulnerability allowing an unauthenticated attacker with network access to send specially crafted packets and escalate privileges to root. This is a critical authentication bypass leading to complete system compromise.

MitigationRestrict network access to vCenter Server management interfaces and apply vendor patches when available. Implement network segmentation to limit exposure.

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

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 VMware product
    Determine whether the system is running VMware Cloud Foundation or VMware vCenter Server. This is typically visible in the product UI, login page, or system documentation.
    Affected if The product is either VMware Cloud Foundation or VMware vCenter Server
  2. Check vCenter Server version
    Log into the vSphere Client and navigate to the Summary page of the vCenter Server, or run 'vpxd -v' from the vCenter Server command line to retrieve the exact version number.
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 7.0 or 8.0 (these are the affected versions for vCenter Server)
  3. Check Cloud Foundation version
    Access the Cloud Foundation inventory or run 'lifecycle-manager --version' from the SDDC Manager command line to determine the exact version number.
    Affected if The installed version is greater than or equal to 4.0 and less than 5.2 (these are the affected ranges for Cloud Foundation)
  4. Verify network exposure
    Review firewall rules, network configuration, and ACLs to determine whether the vCenter Server management interface is accessible from untrusted networks. Check if ports 443 (HTTPS) and 80 (HTTP) on the vCenter Server are exposed to the internet or untrusted internal segments.
    Affected if The vCenter Server has network accessibility from untrusted or external networks (the vulnerability requires network access for exploitation)

The environment is affected if vCenter Server version is 7.0 or 8.0, or if Cloud Foundation version is between 4.0 and 5.1.x inclusive, AND the system is network accessible from untrusted sources.

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

Restrict network access to vCenter Server management interfaces and apply vendor patches when available. Implement network segmentation to limit exposure.

Recommended fix High confidence

Cloud Foundation 5.2+ | vCenter Server 7.0 U3o+ | vCenter Server 8.0 U2+

  1. 1. Identify the current vCenter Server or Cloud Foundation version by navigating to the vSphere Client > Administration > System Configuration > About
  2. 2. Download the latest vCenter Server update from my.vmware.com (for 7.0, look for 7.0 U3 or later; for 8.0, look for 8.0 U2 or later)
  3. 3. Schedule a maintenance window and take a backup of the vCenter Server using the built-in backup functionality
  4. 4. For vCenter Server 7.0: Upgrade to version 7.0 U3o or the latest 7.0 U3x release
  5. 5. For vCenter Server 8.0: Upgrade to version 8.0 U2 or the latest 8.0 Ux release
  6. 6. For Cloud Foundation: Upgrade to version 5.2 or later
  7. 7. Verify the upgrade completed successfully by checking the vCenter Server About page shows the new version
  8. 8. Confirm the CVE is remediated by verifying the build number matches the fixed release
Caveat Upgrade may require downtime; ensure backup before proceeding; check compatibility with attached ESXi hosts

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

Fix this in Cloud Foundation Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing24.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
56.0 hours of engineering $9,520
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $15,232.

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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-2024-38813 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