Headline
PoC Exploit Released for Critical VMware Aria's SSH Auth Bypass Vulnerability
Proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit code has been made available for a recently disclosed and patched critical flaw impacting VMware Aria Operations for Networks (formerly vRealize Network Insight). The flaw, tracked as CVE-2023-34039, is rated 9.8 out of a maximum of 10 for severity and has been described as a case of authentication bypass due to a lack of unique cryptographic key generation. “A
Network Security / Vulnerability
Proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit code has been made available for a recently disclosed and patched critical flaw impacting VMware Aria Operations for Networks (formerly vRealize Network Insight).
The flaw, tracked as CVE-2023-34039, is rated 9.8 out of a maximum of 10 for severity and has been described as a case of authentication bypass due to a lack of unique cryptographic key generation.
“A malicious actor with network access to Aria Operations for Networks could bypass SSH authentication to gain access to the Aria Operations for Networks CLI,” VMware said earlier this week.
Summoning Team’s Sina Kheirkhah, who published the PoC following an analyzing the patch by VMware, said the root cause can be traced back to a bash script containing a method named refresh_ssh_keys(), which is responsible for overwriting the current SSH keys for the support and ubuntu users in the authorized_keys file.
“There is SSH authentication in place; however, VMware forgot to regenerate the keys,” Kheirkhah said. “VMware’s Aria Operations for Networks had hard-coded its keys from version 6.0 to 6.10.”
VMware’s latest fixes also address CVE-2023-20890, an arbitrary file write vulnerability impacting Aria Operations for Networks that could be abused by an adversary with administrative access to write files to arbitrary locations and achieve remote code execution.
In other words, a threat actor could leverage the PoC to obtain admin access to the device and exploit CVE-2023-20890 to run arbitrary payloads, making it crucial that users apply the updates to secure against potential threats.
The release of the PoC coincides with the virtualization technology giant issuing fixes for an high-severity SAML token signature bypass flaw (CVE-2023-20900, CVSS score: 7.5) across several Windows and Linux versions of VMware Tools.
“A malicious actor with man-in-the-middle (MITM) network positioning in the virtual machine network may be able to bypass SAML token signature verification, to perform VMware Tools Guest Operations,” the company said in an advisory released Thursday.
Peter Stöckli of GitHub Security Lab has been credited with reporting the flaw, which affects the following versions -
- VMware Tools for Windows (12.x.x, 11.x.x, 10.3.x) - Fixed in 12.3.0
- VMware Tools for Linux (10.3.x) - Fixed in 10.3.26
- Open-source implementation of VMware Tools for Linux or open-vm-tools (12.x.x, 11.x.x, 10.3.x) - Fixed in 12.3.0 (to be distributed by Linux vendors)
The development also comes as Fortinet FortiGuard Labs warned of continued exploitation of Adobe ColdFusion Vulnerabilities by threat actors to deploy cryptocurrency miners and hybrid bots such as Satan DDoS (aka Lucifer) and RudeMiner (aka SpreadMiner) that are capable of carrying out cryptojacking and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.
Also deployed is a backdoor named BillGates (aka Setag), which is known for hijacking systems, stealing sensitive information, and initiating DDoS attacks.
Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.
Related news
VMWare Aria Operations for Networks (vRealize Network Insight) versions 6.0.0 through 6.10.0 do not randomize the SSH keys on virtual machine initialization. Since the key is easily retrievable, an attacker can use it to gain unauthorized remote access as the "support" (root) user.
Red Hat Security Advisory 2023-5313-01 - The Open Virtual Machine Tools are the open source implementation of the VMware Tools. They are a set of guest operating system virtualization components that enhance performance and user experience of virtual machines. Issues addressed include a bypass vulnerability.
Red Hat Security Advisory 2023-5312-01 - The Open Virtual Machine Tools are the open source implementation of the VMware Tools. They are a set of guest operating system virtualization components that enhance performance and user experience of virtual machines. Issues addressed include a bypass vulnerability.
An update for open-vm-tools is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9. Red Hat Product Security has rated this update as having a security impact of Important. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available for each vulnerability from the CVE link(s) in the References section.This content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). If you distribute this content, or a modified version of it, you must provide attribution to Red Hat Inc. and provide a link to the original. Related CVEs: * CVE-2023-20900: An improper signature verification flaw was found in open-vm-tools that may lead to a bypass of SAML token signature. This issue may allow a malicious actor with man-in-the-middle (MITM) network positioning between a vCenter server and the virtual machine to bypass SAML token signature verification to perform guest operations.
Red Hat Security Advisory 2023-5220-01 - The Open Virtual Machine Tools are the open source implementation of the VMware Tools. They are a set of guest operating system virtualization components that enhance performance and user experience of virtual machines. Issues addressed include a bypass vulnerability.
Red Hat Security Advisory 2023-5213-01 - The Open Virtual Machine Tools are the open source implementation of the VMware Tools. They are a set of guest operating system virtualization components that enhance performance and user experience of virtual machines. Issues addressed include a bypass vulnerability.
Red Hat Security Advisory 2023-5216-01 - The Open Virtual Machine Tools are the open source implementation of the VMware Tools. They are a set of guest operating system virtualization components that enhance performance and user experience of virtual machines. Issues addressed include a bypass vulnerability.
Red Hat Security Advisory 2023-5218-01 - The Open Virtual Machine Tools are the open source implementation of the VMware Tools. They are a set of guest operating system virtualization components that enhance performance and user experience of virtual machines. Issues addressed include a bypass vulnerability.
Red Hat Security Advisory 2023-5217-01 - The Open Virtual Machine Tools are the open source implementation of the VMware Tools. They are a set of guest operating system virtualization components that enhance performance and user experience of virtual machines. Issues addressed include a bypass vulnerability.
An update for open-vm-tools is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. Red Hat Product Security has rated this update as having a security impact of Important. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available for each vulnerability from the CVE link(s) in the References section.This content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). If you distribute this content, or a modified version of it, you must provide attribution to Red Hat Inc. and provide a link to the original. Related CVEs: * CVE-2023-20900: An improper signature verification flaw was found in open-vm-tools that may lead to a bypass of SAML token signature. This issue may allow a malicious actor with man-in-the-middle (MITM) network positioning between a vCenter server and the virtual machine to bypass SAML token signature verification to perform guest operations.
An update for open-vm-tools is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.0 Extended Update Support. Red Hat Product Security has rated this update as having a security impact of Important. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available for each vulnerability from the CVE link(s) in the References section.This content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). If you distribute this content, or a modified version of it, you must provide attribution to Red Hat Inc. and provide a link to the original. Related CVEs: * CVE-2023-20900: An improper signature verification flaw was found in open-vm-tools that may lead to a bypass of SAML token signature. This issue may allow a malicious actor with man-in-the-middle (MITM) network positioning between a vCenter server and the virtual machine to bypass SAML token signature verification to perform gues...
An update for open-vm-tools is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Extended Update Support. Red Hat Product Security has rated this update as having a security impact of Important. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available for each vulnerability from the CVE link(s) in the References section.This content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). If you distribute this content, or a modified version of it, you must provide attribution to Red Hat Inc. and provide a link to the original. Related CVEs: * CVE-2023-20900: An improper signature verification flaw was found in open-vm-tools that may lead to a bypass of SAML token signature. This issue may allow a malicious actor with man-in-the-middle (MITM) network positioning between a vCenter server and the virtual machine to bypass SAML token signature verification to perform gues...
An update for open-vm-tools is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Advanced Mission Critical Update Support, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Telecommunications Update Service, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Update Services for SAP Solutions. Red Hat Product Security has rated this update as having a security impact of Important. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available for each vulnerability from the CVE link(s) in the References section.This content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). If you distribute this content, or a modified version of it, you must provide attribution to Red Hat Inc. and provide a link to the original. Related CVEs: * CVE-2023-20900: An improper signature verification flaw was found in open-vm-tools that may lead to a bypass of SAML token signature. This issue may allow a malicious actor with man-...
An update for open-vm-tools is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.1 Update Services for SAP Solutions. Red Hat Product Security has rated this update as having a security impact of Important. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available for each vulnerability from the CVE link(s) in the References section.This content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). If you distribute this content, or a modified version of it, you must provide attribution to Red Hat Inc. and provide a link to the original. Related CVEs: * CVE-2023-20900: An improper signature verification flaw was found in open-vm-tools that may lead to a bypass of SAML token signature. This issue may allow a malicious actor with man-in-the-middle (MITM) network positioning between a vCenter server and the virtual machine to bypass SAML token signature verification to pe...
An update for open-vm-tools is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2 Advanced Update Support, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2 Telecommunications Update Service, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2 Update Services for SAP Solutions. Red Hat Product Security has rated this update as having a security impact of Important. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available for each vulnerability from the CVE link(s) in the References section.This content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). If you distribute this content, or a modified version of it, you must provide attribution to Red Hat Inc. and provide a link to the original. Related CVEs: * CVE-2023-20900: An improper signature verification flaw was found in open-vm-tools that may lead to a bypass of SAML token signature. This issue may allow a malicious actor with man-in-the-middle (MI...
Ubuntu Security Notice 6365-1 - It was discovered that Open VM Tools incorrectly handled SAML tokens. A remote attacker could possibly use this issue to bypass SAML token signature verification and perform VMware Tools Guest Operations.
Debian Linux Security Advisory 5943-1 - Two security issues have been discovered in the Open VMware Tools, which may result in a man-in-the-middle attack or authentication bypass.
VMware Tools contains a SAML token signature bypass vulnerability. A malicious actor with man-in-the-middle (MITM) network positioning between vCenter server and the virtual machine may be able to bypass SAML token signature verification, to perform VMware Tools Guest Operations.
VMware has released software updates to correct two security vulnerabilities in Aria Operations for Networks that could be potentially exploited to bypass authentication and gain remote code execution. The most severe of the flaws is CVE-2023-34039 (CVSS score: 9.8), which relates to a case of authentication bypass arising as a result of a lack of unique cryptographic key generation. "A
VMware has released software updates to correct two security vulnerabilities in Aria Operations for Networks that could be potentially exploited to bypass authentication and gain remote code execution. The most severe of the flaws is CVE-2023-34039 (CVSS score: 9.8), which relates to a case of authentication bypass arising as a result of a lack of unique cryptographic key generation. "A
Aria Operations for Networks contains an Authentication Bypass vulnerability due to a lack of unique cryptographic key generation. A malicious actor with network access to Aria Operations for Networks could bypass SSH authentication to gain access to the Aria Operations for Networks CLI.
Aria Operations for Networks contains an Authentication Bypass vulnerability due to a lack of unique cryptographic key generation. A malicious actor with network access to Aria Operations for Networks could bypass SSH authentication to gain access to the Aria Operations for Networks CLI.