CVE-2022-31680: The vCenter Server contains an unsafe deserialisation vulnerability in the PSC (Platform services controller).
Noroxi assessment
Priority: Plan (action score 45/100)
- 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: 31% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 98.2% of all records.
- Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. Administrator privileges are required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
- According to the record, no fixed version is available yet.
Add it to your regular patch cycle. 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 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.
- Published
- Oct 7, 2022
- Updated
- Jun 17, 2026
- EPSS
- 31.0% · 98th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-502
Report tools
Action score
45
Plan
Add it to your regular patch cycle.
- CVSS
- 36 / 40 · 9.1 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 9 / 30 · 31.0%
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.
We use this product, ask for helpAffected 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 | vcenter server | cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server |
Affected versions
NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.
- vmware vcenter serverbefore 6.5
- vmware vcenter server6.5
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 prior to U3uaffected
Same product
vmware: all recordsOther highest-scoring records for the same primary product.
- CVE-2023-34048VMware vCenter Server Out-of-Bounds Write VulnerabilityKEV99Now
- CVE-2021-21985The vSphere Client (HTML5) contains a remote code execution vulnerability due to lack of input validation in the Virtual SAN Health Check plKEV99Now
- CVE-2020-3952Under certain conditions, vmdir that ships with VMware vCenter Server, as part of an embedded or external Platform Services Controller (PSC)KEV96Now
Published before and after this one in the same product
- ← EarlierCVE-2021-22017Sep 23, 2021 · Rhttproxy as used in vCenter Server contains a vulnerability due to improper implementation of URI normalization.KEV66This week
- ← EarlierCVE-2021-22049Nov 24, 2021 · The vSphere Web Client (FLEX/Flash) contains an SSRF (Server Side Request Forgery) vulnerability in the vSAN Web Client (vSAN UI) plug-in.40Plan
- Later →CVE-2022-31697Dec 13, 2022 · The vCenter Server contains an information disclosure vulnerability due to the logging of credentials in plaintext.22Monitor
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.
FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).
Patch and commit links
Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.
No commit or PR link among the references.
Credits
All researchersFinders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.
No credits in the CNA record.
Variant candidates
Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.
No nightly-computed relations.
Chain candidates
An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.
—
Bug bounty scope
No known public program.
Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).
Technical details
Attack conditions
- Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
- Administrator privileges are 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
Impact can extend beyond the vulnerable component (scope changes).
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality impact
- High
- Integrity impact
- High
- Availability impact
- High
Weakness class (CWE)
CWE-502 · Deserialization of Untrusted DataCVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
nvd-primary
Root cause
Data received over the network is deserialized into the language’s native object format without verifying its source. Code paths inside the object can be triggered during deserialization.
The bug in code
The whole CWE-502 classA representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.
Vulnerable
payload = sock.recv(65536)
job = pickle.loads(payload)Fixed
payload = sock.recv(65536)
if not hmac.compare_digest(sign(payload), header_sig):
raise PermissionError("invalid signature")
job = JobSchema.validate(json.loads(payload))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
—
Change log
No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.
References
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.