CVE-2023-20892: VMware vCenter Server heap-overflow vulnerability

Severity: critical (CVSS 9.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 1.8% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2023-06-22 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-787

Description

The vCenter Server contains a heap overflow vulnerability due to the usage of uninitialized memory in the implementation of the DCERPC protocol. A malicious actor with network access to vCenter Server may exploit heap-overflow vulnerability to execute arbitrary code on the underlying operating system that hosts vCenter Server.

Affected products

VMware vCenter Server: before 7.0; 7.0, 7.0-a, 7.0-b, 7.0-c, 7.0-d, 7.0-update1 (+26) — fixed in 7.0
VMware Cloud Foundation (vCenter Server): from 5.x before 7.0 U3m, 8.0 U1b; from 4.x before 7.0 U3m, 8.0 U1b — fixed in 7.0 U3m, 8.0 U1b
VMware vCenter Server (vCenter Server): from 8.0 before 8.0 U1b; from 7.0 before 7.0 u3m — fixed in 8.0 U1b, 7.0 u3m

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: VMware vCenter Server 7.0; VMware Cloud Foundation (vCenter Server) 7.0 U3m, 8.0 U1b; VMware vCenter Server (vCenter Server) 8.0 U1b, 7.0 u3m. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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