CVE-2023-20864
Published: 20 April 2023
Summary
CVE-2023-20864 is a critical-severity Deserialization of Untrusted Data (CWE-502) vulnerability in Vmware Aria Operations For Logs. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, ranked in the top 0.2% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
Deeper analysis
VMware Aria Operations for Logs contains a deserialization vulnerability tracked as CVE-2023-20864 and assigned CWE-502. The flaw affects the product when exposed to network requests and carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8, reflecting an unauthenticated vector with low attack complexity and full impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
An unauthenticated attacker who can reach the service over the network may supply a crafted serialized object that results in arbitrary code execution with root privileges. No user interaction or credentials are required for successful exploitation.
The VMware advisory VMSA-2023-0007 addresses the issue. The associated EPSS score has remained at a sustained high of 0.9298 without an indicated rise from a lower baseline.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-25038
Vulnerability details
VMware Aria Operations for Logs contains a deserialization vulnerability. An unauthenticated, malicious actor with network access to VMware Aria Operations for Logs may be able to execute arbitrary code as root.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Penetration testing supplies malicious serialized objects, detecting unsafe deserialization and supporting corrective actions.
Evaluation of untrusted data handling (deserialization testing) reveals unsafe processing, which the required remediation process addresses.
Untrusted serialized data can be deserialized and observed inside the chamber, blocking gadget-chain exploitation outside the sandbox.
Validates or rejects untrusted serialized data before deserialization occurs.
Identifies and blocks malicious code introduced through deserialization of untrusted data at system boundaries.
Integrity verification of serialized information can detect tampering before deserialization occurs.
Provenance of associated data allows detection of untrusted sources before deserialization or processing occurs.