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NVD / CVE Program· CNA vmware

CVE-2021-22005: The vCenter Server contains an arbitrary file upload vulnerability in the Analytics service.

CriticalCVSS 9.8 · v3.1KEVWeaponized No fix recorded

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Now (action score 99/100)

  • CISA has confirmed exploitation in the wild (Nov 3, 2021); it is known to be used in ransomware campaigns. Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: Nov 17, 2021.
  • A ready-made attack module is public (Metasploit, Nuclei); exploiting it takes no special expertise.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 99.9% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 99.9% 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.
  • Mentioned 2 times in Turkish national cyber security advisories (siberguvenlik.gov.tr).

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

The vCenter Server contains an arbitrary file upload vulnerability in the Analytics service. A malicious actor with network access to port 443 on vCenter Server may exploit this issue to execute code on vCenter Server by uploading a specially crafted file.

Published
Sep 23, 2021
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
99.9% · 99th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

99

Now

Patch today or shut off access.

CVSS
39 / 40 · 9.8 / 10
CISA KEV
30 / 30 · Listed
EPSS
30 / 30 · 99.9%

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: Nov 17, 2021.

Known to be used in ransomware campaigns.

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-2021-22005

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
vmwarecloud foundation
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, VMware Cloud Foundation

    • VMware vCenter Server(7.x before 7.0 U2c and 6.7 before 6.7 U3o) and VMware Cloud Foundation (4.x before 4.3 and 3.x before 3.10.2.2)affected
Affected versions · NVD (4)

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

  • vmware cloud foundation3.0 and later · before 5.0
  • vmware vcenter server6.5
  • vmware vcenter server6.7
  • vmware vcenter server7.0

Same product

vmware: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2021-21972The vSphere Client (HTML5) contains a remote code execution vulnerability in a vCenter Server plugin.KEV
    99Now
  • CVE-2020-3992OpenSLP as used in VMware ESXi (7.0 before ESXi_7.0.1-0.0.16850804, 6.7 before ESXi670-202010401-SG, 6.5 before ESXi650-202010401-SG) has a…KEV
    94Now
  • CVE-2024-38812Heap-overflow vulnerabilityKEV
    85Now

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2021-21992Sep 22, 2021 · The vCenter Server contains a denial-of-service vulnerability due to improper XML entity parsing.
    26Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2021-21993Sep 23, 2021 · The vCenter Server contains an SSRF (Server Side Request Forgery) vulnerability due to improper validation of URLs in vCenter Server…
    26Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2021-22006Sep 23, 2021 · The vCenter Server contains a reverse proxy bypass vulnerability due to the way the endpoints handle the URI.
    32Monitor

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 ×1
  • Nuclei detection template ×1
  • Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub ×12

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 GitHub12 repositories2021-09-23 → 2022-06-21
Metasploit moduleexploit/linux/http/vmware_vcenter_analytics_file_uploadVMware vCenter Server Analytics (CEIP) Service File Uploadexploit2021-09-21
Nuclei detection templateNuclei template CVE-2021-22005 —

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-2 d
  2. First PoCsame day
  3. Published
  4. CISA KEV+41 d
  5. TodayNov 13, 2026+1878 d

National notice (Türkiye Cybersecurity Directorate / USOM)

Official security notices citing this record; remediation advice is on the agency's page.

All national notices →

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-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

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 user-supplied file name is joined with the allowed directory, but the result is never checked to confirm it is still inside that directory.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-22 class

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

Vulnerable

ts
const file = path.join(ROOT, req.query.name);res.sendFile(file);

Fixed

ts
const file = path.resolve(ROOT, req.query.name);if (!file.startsWith(ROOT + path.sep)) {  return res.sendStatus(400);}res.sendFile(file);

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