Privilege Escalation to Root in VMware vCenter Server
CVE-2024-38813 is a VMware vCenter Server privilege escalation vulnerability affecting vCenter Server 7.0 and 8.0, as well as VMware Cloud Foundation 4.x and 5.x deployments that include the affected vCenter components. According to the provided content, a malicious actor with network access to vCenter Server can trigger the flaw by sending a specially crafted network packet, resulting in privilege escalation to root. The content does not identify the exact vulnerable function or code path, but it consistently characterizes the issue as a network-reachable privilege escalation vulnerability in vCenter Server and notes it as part of a broader cluster of DCE/RPC-related vCenter flaws discussed by researchers.
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Impact, mitigation & remediation
What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.
Impact
What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.
Mitigation
If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.
Remediation
Patch, then assume compromise.
Exploits
No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.
No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.
Affected products & vendors
Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.
Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.
Recent activity
9 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
One of a cluster of four vulnerabilities affecting VMware vCenter Server’s DCE/RPC protocol implementation, mentioned as compounding risk when chained with CVE-2024-37079.
A privilege escalation vulnerability referenced as chainable with a vCenter DCERPC heap-overflow flaw to achieve unauthorized remote root access on ESXi.
A privilege escalation flaw (in the referenced DCE/RPC service vulnerability set) that can be chained with a heap overflow to obtain unauthorized remote root access and ultimately control ESXi.
A VMware vCenter Server privilege escalation to root vulnerability that the article says attackers began exploiting.
The version that knows your environment.
Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.
Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.
Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.
YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.
Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.
Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.