CVE-2023-20864: VMware Aria Operations for Logs Deserialization Vulnerability

VMware issues advisory to address two flaws in its VMware Aria Operations for Logs solution, including a critical deserialization flaw assigned a CVSSv3 score of 9.8.

Background

On April 20, VMware published an advisory (VMSA-2023-0007) to address two vulnerabilities in VMware Aria Operations for Logs, formerly known as vRealize Log Insight, a centralized log management solution.

Both flaws were reported to VMware prior to the advisory being published. CVE-2023-20864 was disclosed by anonymous via Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative, while CVE-2023-20865 was disclosed by researchers Y4er & MoonBack of 埃文科技.

Analysis

CVE-2023-20864 is a deserialization vulnerability in VMware Aria Operations for Logs. An unauthenticated, remote attacker capable of accessing VMware Aria Operations for Logs could exploit this vulnerability in order to gain arbitrary code execution with root privileges.

CVE-2023-20865 is an operating system (OS) command injection vulnerability in VMware Aria Operations for Logs. An attacker that has authenticated to a vulnerable VMware Aria Operations for Logs instance with administrative privileges could exploit this vulnerability to gain arbitrary code execution with root privileges.

VMware urges patching ‘immediately’ for CVE-2023-20864

In a knowledge base (KB) article, VMware provided additional information regarding VMSA-2023-0007. According to VMware, since CVE-2023-20864 is a “critical issue” it “should be patched immediately.”

Impact from CVE-2023-20864 limited to one version of product

In the same KB article, VMware notes that CVE-2023-20864 only affects VMware Aria Operations for Logs version 8.10.2, while multiple versions of the product are vulnerable to CVE-2023-20865. However, despite the broader scope of affected products, the requirements to exploit CVE-2023-20865 (authenticated with admin privileges) make it less of a concern.

Second significant advisory for VMware Aria Operations for Logs in 2023

In January, VMware published an advisory (VMSA-2023-0001) addressing four vulnerabilities in vRealize Log Insight, the former name for VMware Aria Operations for Logs. In this January advisory, a different deserialization vulnerability (CVE-2022-31710) was patched along with a critical directory traversal flaw (CVE-2022-31706). Researchers on the Horizon3 Attack Team published a proof-of-concept for CVE-2022-31706 within a week following the publication of the advisory.

Potential value for flaw as part of post-compromise activity

Because of the nature of the VMware Aria Operations for Logs product not being a public facing asset, we do not anticipate seeing widespread exploitation of this flaw. However, an attacker that gains a foothold into a network running a vulnerable version of VMware Aria Operations for Logs could utilize a flaw like this one as part of their post-compromise activity.

Proof of concept

At the time this blog post was published, no proof-of-concept (PoC) exploits were available for either CVE-2023-20864 and CVE-2023-20865.

Solution

VMware has released version 8.12 of VMware Aria Operations for Logs to address these flaws. The following table includes information on affected and fixed versions along with applicable CVEs.

Identifying affected systems

A list of Tenable plugins to identify these vulnerabilities will appear here as they’re released. This link uses a search filter to ensure that all matching plugin coverage will appear as it is released.

Customers can also check the status of these plugins on our Plugins Pipeline page.

Get more information

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