CVE-2024-38813 — VMware vCenter Server Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
Overview
VMware vCenter contains an improper check for dropped privileges vulnerability. This vulnerability could allow an attacker with network access to the vCenter Server to escalate privileges to root by sending a specially crafted packet.
Vulnerability details
- CVE ID
- CVE-2024-38813
- Vulnerability
- VMware vCenter Server Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
- Vendor
- VMware
- Affected products
- VMware: vCenter Server
- Severity
- HIGH
- Exploitation status
- Actively exploited in the wild (CISA KEV)
- Published
- 2024-11-20
Remediation guidance
CVE-2024-38813 is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog — U.S. federal civilian agencies are required to remediate it under Binding Operational Directive 22-01. Treat it as a priority for every environment.
Apply the vendor's official security update for VMware the affected product as soon as possible. Where a patch is unavailable, apply vendor mitigations or isolate/segment exposed systems.
Hunt for indicators of compromise tied to this vulnerability and confirm logging/EDR coverage on affected assets.
Authoritative references
Remediate CVE-2024-38813 — and stay ahead of the next one
CVE-2024-38813 is listed in the CISA KEV catalog as actively exploited — treat remediation as urgent. Scan your domain free to see whether CVE-2024-38813 and other VMware issues affect you and get a prioritized remediation report (full report from ₹999) — or stream the full feed of 1,600+ actively-exploited CVEs straight into your SOC.
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