Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2023-20887 is a critical-severity Command Injection (CWE-77) vulnerability in Vmware Aria Operations For Networks. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, ranked in the top 0.1% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
VMware Aria Operations for Networks is affected by a command injection vulnerability tracked as CVE-2023-20887. The flaw, assigned CWE-77, permits unauthenticated attackers to inject and execute operating system commands, leading to full remote code execution on the target appliance. It carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8, reflecting network attack vector, low complexity, and no required privileges or user interaction.
An attacker with network reachability to an exposed Aria Operations for Networks instance can supply crafted input that bypasses input sanitization and executes arbitrary commands under the privileges of the service account. Successful exploitation grants complete control of the affected system, including the ability to read, modify, or delete data and to pivot within the management network.
VMware’s advisory VMSA-2023-0012 details the affected versions and remediation steps, while CISA has added the CVE to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, confirming in-the-wild exploitation. The EPSS score reached a peak of 0.9721 and remains at 0.9426, indicating sustained and widespread exploitation interest following disclosure. Public exploit code has also appeared on Packet Storm.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-25058
Vulnerability Data
Aria Operations for Networks contains a command injection vulnerability. A malicious actor with network access to VMware Aria Operations for Networks may be able to perform a command injection attack resulting in remote code execution.
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 22 June 2023
Related Threats
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
A.8.25 mandates secure SDLC practices including secure coding guidelines, security requirements, checkpoints, testing (scans/penetration), and developer training that reduce command injection defects, but leaves a minority slice (e.g. incomplete implementation of those practices, outsourced development without full assurance, or post-SDLC changes) where the weakness can still arise and be exploitable.
Application security requirements explicitly call for controls against injection flaws including command injection.
A.8.27 mandates security-by-design principles (e.g. distrust external input, secure session control, data validation/sanitization, least privilege) and design reviews that can stop command injection from being introduced, but this is only a minority slice of CWE-77 because the weakness can still arise in code that bypasses those principles, in non-reviewed components, or in runtime injection vectors the architecture review does not reach.
Secure coding standards require proper escaping and parameterization of commands, directly eliminating CWE-77.
Security testing in development catches command-injection vulnerabilities before release.
Hardening callouts derived
DISA STIG baselines are authored against specific weaknesses. Where this CVE cites a broad weakness class, the mapping is not asserted at that abstraction (owner ruling, 2026-09-25: grade only at Base and below), so no rule is shown here rather than a rule shown against the wrong grain.
- No fine-grained STIG row for CWE-77, a class-level weakness, and none of its children carries one either.