CVE-2026-22721
Published: 25 February 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-22721 is a medium-severity Improper Privilege Management (CWE-269) vulnerability in Vmware Cloud Foundation. Its CVSS base score is 6.2 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 9.4th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AC-6 (Least Privilege) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Deeper analysis
VMware Aria Operations contains a privilege escalation vulnerability identified as CVE-2026-22721, classified under CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management). This issue affects the VMware Aria Operations component, allowing unauthorized elevation of access within the platform. The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.2 (AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L), indicating medium severity with network accessibility, high attack complexity, and requirements for high privileges.
A malicious actor who already possesses privileges in vCenter sufficient to access Aria Operations can exploit this vulnerability over the network. Successful exploitation enables the attacker to escalate their access and obtain full administrative privileges within VMware Aria Operations, potentially compromising confidentiality, integrity, and limited availability of the affected system without requiring user interaction.
The Broadcom security advisory VMSA-2026-0001 recommends remediation by applying the patches listed in the 'Fixed Version' column of the 'Response Matrix', available at https://support.broadcom.com/web/ecx/support-content-notification/-/external/content/SecurityAdvisories/0/36947. Additional details on fixed versions appear in the VMware Aria Operations 8.18.6 release notes at https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/aria/aria-operations/8-18/vmware-aria-operations-8186-release-notes.html.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-8725
Vulnerability details
VMware Aria Operations contains a privilege escalation vulnerability. A malicious actor with privileges in vCenter to access Aria Operations may leverage this vulnerability to obtain administrative access in VMware Aria Operations. To remediate CVE-2026-22721, apply the patches listed in the…
more
'Fixed Version' column of the 'Response Matrix' found in VMSA-2026-0001 https://support.broadcom.com/web/ecx/support-content-notification/-/external/content/SecurityAdvisories/0/36947 .
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Direct privilege escalation via improper privilege management (CWE-269) in a remotely accessible management component matches Exploitation for Privilege Escalation.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly requires applying vendor patches to remediate the privilege-escalation flaw in VMware Aria Operations.
Enforces least privilege so that vCenter accounts permitted to reach Aria Operations cannot hold unnecessary administrative rights that enable escalation.
Implements access-enforcement mechanisms that block unauthorized elevation from vCenter-derived privileges to full Aria Operations admin rights.