Security Vulnerability CVE-2021-21972 - Complete Analysis and Details
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CVE-2021-21972

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This is a free service offered by Red Hot Cyber to the community. It allows you to view, on a single page, information about a single CVE from the National Vulnerability Database (NVD) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the United States of America, the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) regarding the EPSS score and percentile, data from the KEV catalog of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), as well as selected resources from Red Hot Cyber and other international sources.

National Vulnerability Database Information

Description: The vSphere Client (HTML5) contains a remote code execution vulnerability in a vCenter Server plugin. A malicious actor with network access to port 443 may exploit this issue to execute commands with unrestricted privileges on the underlying operating system that hosts vCenter Server. This affects VMware vCenter Server (7.x before 7.0 U1c, 6.7 before 6.7 U3l and 6.5 before 6.5 U3n) and VMware Cloud Foundation (4.x before 4.2 and 3.x before 3.10.1.2).

CVSS Base Score: 9.8 (v3.1)

The **CVSS Base Score** is a score from **0 to 10** that represents the intrinsic severity of a vulnerability. A higher score indicates greater severity.

Value
0.02.55.07.510.0
Published on: 02/24/2021 17:15:15
Last modified: 10/30/2025 20:06:27
NIST: CVE source from the National Vulnerability Database (NVD)

CVSS Metrics Details

  • Base Severity: CRITICAL
  • Vector String: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
  • Attack Vector: NETWORK
  • Attack Complexity: LOW
  • Privileges Required: NONE
  • User Interaction: NONE
  • Scope: UNCHANGED
  • Confidentiality Impact: HIGH
  • Integrity Impact: HIGH
  • Availability Impact: HIGH

Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)

Database CWE: v4.18

CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') ↗

The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory.

Fonte: MITRE CWE


FIRST Information

EPSS Score: 0.9380

The **EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System)** is a score from **0 to 1** that indicates the **probability** that a vulnerability will be exploited in the real world in the next 30 days. A higher value indicates a greater likelihood of exploitation.

Value
0.00.250.50.751.0

Percentile: 0.9985

The **Percentile** indicates how much higher this vulnerability's EPSS score is compared to all other vulnerabilities in the EPSS database. For example, a percentile of 0.90 (90%) means that 90% of vulnerabilities have an EPSS score equal to or lower than the current one.

Value
0.00.250.50.751.0

*Data updated as of: 2025-12-14


CISA Information (Known Exploited Vulnerabilities)

The **CISA KEV Catalog** lists vulnerabilities that have been **actively exploited in the real world**. If a CVE is present in this catalog, it indicates that the threat is immediate and mitigation should be a top priority.

CVE **CVE-2021-21972** **IS PRESENT** in the CISA KEV Catalog!

  • Vulnerability Name: VMware vCenter Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
  • Short Description: VMware vCenter Server vSphere Client contains a remote code execution vulnerability in a vCenter Server plugin which allows an attacker with network access to port 443 to execute commands with unrestricted privileges on the underlying operating system.
  • Date Added to KEV: 11/03/2021
  • Vendor/Product: VMware / vCenter Server
  • Required Action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.
  • Due Date: 11/17/2021

Articles published on Red Hot Cyber


NVD References

Exploit PoC from GitHub