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CVE-2023-20867VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2023-20867: VMware Tools · Improper Authentication

Affects VMware ToolsSource CVE Database V5

0

Exploited in the wild · KEV due 14 Jul 2023 · 13% EPSS : apply the vendor's fix or mitigations to VMware Tools now.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
3.9High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
KEV deadline
 US federal agencies must patch by this date; a sensible deadline for everyone else.
EPSS
13.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 96% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Exploitation evidence

t = 0 is the CVE’s publication on cve.org

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 13 Jun 2023

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: evidence found.

    Listed in CISA KEV 10 days after disclosure

  5. Observed by OffSeq Mirage: no evidence on record.

    No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

Timeline

  1. CVE ID reserved

    by vmware

    , 224 days before disclosure

  2. CVE published

    on cve.org

    , t = 0

  3. , 10 days after disclosure

  4. KEV remediation due

    US federal deadline

    , 31 days after disclosure

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), CISA KEV (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

What to do

Description

A fully compromised ESXi host can force VMware Tools to fail to authenticate host-to-guest operations, impacting the confidentiality and integrity of the guest virtual machine.

References

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