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NVD / CVE Program· CNA vmware

CVE-2020-3952: Under certain conditions, vmdir that ships with VMware vCenter Server, as part of an embedded or external Platform Services Controller (PSC)…

CriticalCVSS 9.8 · v3.1KEVWeaponized No fix recorded

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Now (action score 96/100)

  • CISA has confirmed exploitation in the wild (Nov 3, 2021). Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: May 3, 2022.
  • A ready-made attack module is public (Metasploit, Nuclei); exploiting it takes no special expertise.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 90.3% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 99.8% of all records.
  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • According to CISA the attack is automatable: targets can be found by mass scanning.
  • According to the record, no fixed version is available yet.

Patch today or shut off access. Until a fix is released, restrict access to the affected component and follow the vendor's advisory.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · CISA KEV · FIRST EPSS

Under certain conditions, vmdir that ships with VMware vCenter Server, as part of an embedded or external Platform Services Controller (PSC), does not correctly implement access controls.

Published
Apr 10, 2020
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
90.3% · 99th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

96

Now

Patch today or shut off access.

CVSS
39 / 40 · 9.8 / 10
CISA KEV
30 / 30 · Listed
EPSS
27 / 30 · 90.3%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
active
Automatable
yes
Technical impact
total

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

Actively exploited in the wild

CISA added this to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on Nov 3, 2021. That signals real attacks, not theory.

Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: May 3, 2022.

Get told when this record changes

  • In CISA KEV: exploitation in the wild confirmed
  • Weaponized exploit exists
  • No fixed version yet

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Follow CVE-2020-3952

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
vmwarevcenter server

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (vmware). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • n/a VMware vCenter Server

    • vCenter Server 6.7 (embedded or external PSC) prior to 6.7u3f is affected by CVE-2020-3952 if it was upgraded from a previous release line such as 6.0 or 6.5. Clean installations of vCenter Server 6.7affected

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • vmware vcenter server6.7

Same product

vmware: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2023-34048VMware vCenter Server Out-of-Bounds Write VulnerabilityKEV
    99Now
  • CVE-2021-21985The vSphere Client (HTML5) contains a remote code execution vulnerability due to lack of input validation in the Virtual SAN Health Check…KEV
    99Now
  • CVE-2026-59310vCenter directory-traversal vulnerabilityKEV
    88Now

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2019-5537Oct 28, 2019 · Sensitive information disclosure vulnerability resulting from a lack of certificate validation during the File-Based Backup and Restore…
    23Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2019-5538Oct 28, 2019 · Sensitive information disclosure vulnerability resulting from a lack of certificate validation during the File-Based Backup and Restore…
    23Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2021-21986May 26, 2021 · The vSphere Client (HTML5) contains a vulnerability in a vSphere authentication mechanism for the Virtual SAN Health Check, Site Recovery…
    43Plan

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.

Exploit status

Weaponized

A ready exploit tool or active in-the-wild use is known for this vulnerability. This should be your top priority.

Evidence

  • Metasploit module ×2
  • Exploit-DB entry ×1
  • Nuclei detection template ×1
  • Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub ×4

Noroxi does not host or link to exploit code. Metasploit module names and Nuclei template ids are shown (names, not code); Exploit-DB entries and PoC repositories are given as counts only.

Public exploit evidence
SourceKindDate
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub4 repositories2020-04-15 → 2020-04-19
Exploit-DB entrywebapps2020-06-01
Metasploit moduleauxiliary/admin/ldap/vmware_vcenter_vmdir_auth_bypassVMware vCenter Server vmdir Authentication Bypassauxiliary2020-04-09
Metasploit moduleauxiliary/gather/vmware_vcenter_vmdir_ldapVMware vCenter Server vmdir Information Disclosureauxiliary2020-04-09
Nuclei detection templateNuclei template CVE-2020-3952 —

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

  1. Metasploit-1 d
  2. Published
  3. First PoC+5 d
  4. CISA KEV+572 d
  5. TodayNov 13, 2026+2409 d

Not on record for this CVE: EPSS history · patch commit or PR link · researcher credit · variant or chain candidate · public bounty program.

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
high · data can be read
Integrity
high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-306 · Missing Authentication for Critical Function

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

nvd-primary

Root cause

A function added for development or support ships to production without authentication. It often relies on the assumption that it is “only reachable from the internal network.”

The bug in code

The whole CWE-306 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

ts
// Added for the support teamapp.post("/maintenance/reset", resetDevice);

Fixed

ts
if (config.maintenanceEnabled) {  app.post(    "/maintenance/reset",    requireSession, requireRole("admin"), resetDevice  );}

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

ATT&CK techniques

—

References

Show all references (1 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records