Multiple Vulnerabilities on VMware Let Attackers Gain Admin Privileges

VMware recently issued an advisory warning for the administrators that multiple products on the VMware Cloud Platform are affected by multiple flaws, and among them, there is a critical authentication bypass security flaw.

By exploiting this critical flaw an attacker with no authentication privileges will be able to gain administrative access to the system.

The critical flaw has been tracked as CVE-2022-31656 and reported by Petrus Viet of VNG Security, which has a CVSSv3 base score of 9.8.

Vulnerabilities

Here below we have mentioned all the security vulnerabilities detected:-

• CVE-2022-31656: Authentication Bypass Vulnerability
• CVE-2022-31657: URL Injection Vulnerability
• CVE-2022-31658: JDBC Injection Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
• CVE-2022-31659: SQL injection Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
• CVE-2022-31660: Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
• CVE-2022-31661: Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
• CVE-2022-31662: Path traversal vulnerability
• CVE-2022-31663: Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability
• CVE-2022-31664: Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
• CVE-2022-31665: JDBC Injection Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Affected Products

Here below we have mentioned all the products that were affected:-

• VMware Workspace ONE Access (Access)
• VMware Workspace ONE Access Connector (Access Connector)
• VMware Identity Manager (vIDM)
• VMware Identity Manager Connector (vIDM Connector)
• VMware vRealize Automation (vRA)
• VMware Cloud Foundation
• vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager

Critical Patch

In accordance with the instructions in the VMSA, this critical vulnerability must be patched or mitigated as soon as possible.

Every environment has its own set of characteristics, its own tolerance for risk, and its own set of security controls that are unique to it. Therefore, it is up to the customer to take the necessary steps to proceed in their own way. 

It should however be noted that due to the severity of the vulnerability, immediate action is strongly recommended. The crucial authentication bypass vulnerability, CVE-2022-31656 has not yet been exploited in the wild. 

Availability of workaround

If you are unable to patch your appliances against the CVE-2022-31656 vulnerability right away, the company has provided a temporary workaround.

Earlier this year, VMware patched the following products for an almost identical critical security flaw “CVE-2022-22972”:-

• Workspace ONE Access
• VMware Identity Manager (vIDM)
• vRealize Automation

This workaround, however, is not recommended by VMware. In order to fully mitigate the CVE-2022-31656 auth bypass vulnerability, the vulnerable products must be patched.

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