CVE-2021-21972: VMware vCenter Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Severity: critical (CVSS 9.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: yes — in CISA KEV since 2021-11-03
EPSS: 99.9% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: yes
Published: 2021-02-24 · updated 2026-08-12
Weakness: CWE-22

Description

The vSphere Client (HTML5) contains a remote code execution vulnerability in a vCenter Server plugin. A malicious actor with network access to port 443 may exploit this issue to execute commands with unrestricted privileges on the underlying operating system that hosts vCenter Server. This affects VMware vCenter Server (7.x before 7.0 U1c, 6.7 before 6.7 U3l and 6.5 before 6.5 U3n) and VMware Cloud Foundation (4.x before 4.2 and 3.x before 3.10.1.2).

Affected products

VMware Cloud Foundation: from 3.0 before 3.10.1.2; from 4.0 before 4.2 — fixed in 3.10.1.2, 4.2
VMware vCenter Server: 6.5, 6.5-a, 6.5-b, 6.5-c, 6.5-d, 6.5-e (+35)
VMware Cloud Foundation: 4.x before 4.2, 3.x before 3.10.1.2
VMware vCenter Server: 7.x before 7.0 U1c, 6.7 before 6.7 U3l, 6.5 before 6.5 U3n

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: VMware Cloud Foundation 3.10.1.2, 4.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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