The vCenter Server contains an unsafe deserialisation vulnerability in the PSC (Platform services controller). A malicious actor with admin access on vCenter server may exploit this issue to execute arbitrary code on the underlying operating system that hosts the vCenter Server.
The product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently verifying that the resulting data will be valid.
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | * | 6.5 (excluding) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5 (including) | 6.5 (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-a (including) | 6.5-a (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-b (including) | 6.5-b (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-c (including) | 6.5-c (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-d (including) | 6.5-d (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-update1 (including) | 6.5-update1 (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-update1b (including) | 6.5-update1b (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-update1c (including) | 6.5-update1c (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-update1d (including) | 6.5-update1d (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-update1e (including) | 6.5-update1e (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-update1g (including) | 6.5-update1g (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-update2 (including) | 6.5-update2 (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-update2b (including) | 6.5-update2b (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-update2c (including) | 6.5-update2c (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-update2d (including) | 6.5-update2d (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-update2g (including) | 6.5-update2g (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-update3 (including) | 6.5-update3 (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-update3d (including) | 6.5-update3d (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-update3f (including) | 6.5-update3f (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-update3k (including) | 6.5-update3k (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-update3n (including) | 6.5-update3n (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-update3p (including) | 6.5-update3p (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-update3q (including) | 6.5-update3q (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-update3r (including) | 6.5-update3r (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-update3s (including) | 6.5-update3s (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-update3t (including) | 6.5-update3t (including) |
| Vcenter_server | Vmware | 6.5-update3u (including) | 6.5-update3u (including) |
It is often convenient to serialize objects for communication or to save them for later use. However, deserialized data or code can often be modified without using the provided accessor functions if it does not use cryptography to protect itself. Furthermore, any cryptography would still be client-side security – which is a dangerous security assumption. Data that is untrusted can not be trusted to be well-formed. When developers place no restrictions on “gadget chains,” or series of instances and method invocations that can self-execute during the deserialization process (i.e., before the object is returned to the caller), it is sometimes possible for attackers to leverage them to perform unauthorized actions, like generating a shell.