NVD / CVE Program· CNA vmware

CVE-2021-22012: The vCenter Server contains an information disclosure vulnerability due to an unauthenticated appliance management API.

HighCVSS 7.5 · v3.1—No exploit No fix recorded

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 30/100)

The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 1.3% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 72.6% 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 the record, no fixed version is available yet.
Mentioned 1 time in Turkish national cyber security advisories (siberguvenlik.gov.tr).

Low priority for now. Update when a fix is released; 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 · FIRST EPSS

The vCenter Server contains an information disclosure vulnerability due to an unauthenticated appliance management API. A malicious actor with network access to port 443 on vCenter Server may exploit this issue to gain access to sensitive information.

BDU:2021-04983

Published: Sep 23, 2021
Updated: Jun 16, 2026
EPSS: 1.3% · 72th percentile
CWE: CWE-306

Report tools

JSON

Action score

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS: 30 / 40 · 7.5 / 10
CISA KEV: 0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS: 0 / 30 · 1.3%

Get told when this record changes

Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
No public exploit code on record
No fixed version yet

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

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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.

Vendor	Product	CPE
vmware	cloud foundation	cpe:2.3:a:vmware:cloud_foundation
vmware	vcenter server	cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_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 vCenter Server 6.5 before 6.5 U3qaffected

Affected versions

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 server6.7
vmware vcenter server7.0

Same product

vmware: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2021-22005The vCenter Server contains an arbitrary file upload vulnerability in the Analytics service.KEV
99Now
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

Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2021-22010Sep 23, 2021 · The vCenter Server contains a denial-of-service vulnerability in VPXD service.
30Monitor
← EarlierCVE-2021-22011Sep 23, 2021 · vCenter Server contains an unauthenticated API endpoint vulnerability in vCenter Server Content Library.
21Monitor
Later →CVE-2021-22013Sep 23, 2021 · The vCenter Server contains a file path traversal vulnerability leading to information disclosure in the appliance management API.
30Monitor

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

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

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.

No dated events beyond publication.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

CVE-2022-22945146 days apartVMware NSX Edge contains a CLI shell injection vulnerability.
31Monitor
CVE-2021-219930 days apartThe vCenter Server contains an SSRF (Server Side Request Forgery) vulnerability due to improper validation of URLs in vCenter Server…
26Monitor
CVE-2021-2202224 days apartThe vRealize Operations Manager API (8.x prior to 8.5) contains an arbitrary file read vulnerability.
19Monitor
CVE-2021-2203320 days apartReleases prior to VMware vRealize Operations 8.6 contain a Server Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability.
10Monitor

National notice (Türkiye Cybersecurity Directorate / USOM)

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

TR-21-0766 · Sep 22, 2021(VMware vCenter Zafiyeti)

All national notices →

Not on record for this CVE: EPSS history · patch commit or PR link · researcher credit · 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: none
Availability: none

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: None
User interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality impact: High
Integrity impact: None
Availability impact: None

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:N/A:N

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

1// Added for the support team
2app.post("/maintenance/reset", resetDevice);

Fixed

1if (config.maintenanceEnabled) {
2  app.post(
3    "/maintenance/reset",
4    requireSession, requireRole("admin"), resetDevice
5  );
6}

Attack context

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

Attack patterns (CAPEC)

ATT&CK techniques

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Change log (0)

No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.

References

www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2021-0020.html

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

All records