CVE-2021-21985

VMware vCenter Server and VMware Cloud Foundation

CRITICAL 9.8CISA KEV ↗Exploited per ENISA since 2021-11-03

At a glance

Source: NVD
EPSS: EPSS 100.00 % · percentile 100 (2026-10-28)
State: PUBLISHED
Published: 2021-05-26 14:04 UTC
Updated: 2026-08-12 03:55 UTC
Assigner: vmware
NVD status: Analyzed

Description

The vSphere Client (HTML5) contains a remote code execution vulnerability due to lack of input validation in the Virtual SAN Health Check plug-in which is enabled by default in vCenter Server. A malicious actor with network access to port 443 may exploit this issue to execute commands with unrestricted privileges on the underlying operating system that hosts vCenter Server.

Weaknesses (CWE)

CWE-20 — Improper Input Validation
CWE-470 — Unsafe Reflection
CWE-918 — Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)

References

Scores

Version	Score	Vector	Scored by
CVSS 3.1	CRITICAL 9.8	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H	CISA-ADP
CVSS 3.1	CRITICAL 9.8	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H	NVD · nvd@nist.gov (Primary)
CVSS 3.1	CRITICAL 9.8	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H	NVD · 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 (Secondary)
CVSS 2.0	HIGH 10.0	AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C	NVD · nvd@nist.gov (Primary)

European references

ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2021-9156
GCVE · GCVE-0-2021-21985

CERT-FR advisories

CERTFR-2021-AVI-403 — Multiples vulnérabilités dans les produits VMware · cert.ssi.gouv.fr
CERTFR-2021-ALE-011 — Vulnérabilité dans VMware vCenter Server · cert.ssi.gouv.fr

Affected configurations (NVD CPE)

cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.5:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.5:a:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.5:b:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.5:c:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.5:d:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.5:e:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.5:f:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.5:update1:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.5:update1b:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.5:update1c:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.5:update1d:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.5:update1e:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.5:update1g:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.5:update2:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.5:update2b:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.5:update2c:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.5:update2d:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.5:update2g:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.5:update3:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.5:update3d:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.5:update3f:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.5:update3k:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.5:update3n:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.7:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.7:a:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.7:b:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.7:d:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.7:update1:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.7:update1b:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.7:update2:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.7:update2a:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.7:update2c:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.7:update3:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.7:update3a:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.7:update3b:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.7:update3f:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.7:update3g:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.7:update3j:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.7:update3l:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vcenter_server:6.7:update3m:*:*:*:*:*:*
+13 more

Affected products

Product	Versions
VMware vCenter Server and VMware Cloud Foundation	affected VMware vCenter Server (7.x before 7.0 U2b, 6.7 before 6.7 U3n, 6.5 before 6.5 U3p) and VMware Cloud Foundation (4.x before 4.2.1, 3.x before 3.10.2.1)

Sources

Source	Licence
CVE List (CVEProject cvelistV5)	CVE Program Terms of Use
CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities	CC0 1.0
EPSS (FIRST.org)	FIRST — attribution requested
ENISA EUVD	ENISA — reproduction authorised, source acknowledged
CERT-FR (ANSSI)	Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0
NVD (NIST) via fkie-cad/nvd-json-data-feeds	Public domain — this product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD