CVE-2023-34060VulnerabilityPublished 14 Nov 2023Updated 16 Dec 2025

CVE-2023-34060: VMware Cloud Director Appliance (VCD Appliance) · Authentication Bypass Vulnerability

Affects VMware Cloud Director Appliance (VCD Appliance)Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

Severity

High

Rated High by the CNA (vmware) · No CVSS score from NVD or the CNA

EPSS: 1.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 71% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 14 Nov 2023
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-25.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
VMware Cloud Director Appliance (VCD Appliance)	Affected >=10.4	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

European organizations should immediately verify whether their VMware Cloud Director Appliances running version 10.5 were upgraded from earlier versions and assess the Photon OS version and sssd package installed. If affected, organizations must upgrade the Photon OS to versions shipping with sssd-2.8.1-11 or higher (Photon OS 3) or sssd-2.8.2-9 or higher (Photon OS 4 and 5) to remediate the vulnerability. If VMware releases specific patches or updated appliance versions addressing this issue, those should be applied promptly. Network access to ports 22 (SSH) and 5480 (management console) should be restricted using firewall rules, VPNs, or zero-trust network segmentation to limit exposure. Implement strict monitoring and logging of authentication attempts on these ports to detect suspicious activity. Employ multi-factor authentication (MFA) where possible on management interfaces to add an additional security layer. Conduct regular audits of appliance upgrade procedures to ensure underlying OS components are also updated. Finally, isolate management interfaces from general network access and enforce least privilege principles for administrative accounts.

Description

CVE-2023-34060 is an authentication bypass vulnerability affecting VMware Cloud Director Appliance (VCD Appliance) version 10.5 when upgraded from versions 10.4.x or below. The flaw allows a malicious actor with network access to bypass login restrictions on SSH (port 22) and the appliance management console (port 5480), but not on the HTTPS login (port 443). This vulnerability arises due to an affected version of the sssd component in the underlying Photon OS used by the appliance. New installations of VCD Appliance 10.5 are not affected, and the issue is resolved in Photon OS versions shipping with sssd-2.8.1-11 or higher (Photon OS 3) and sssd-2.

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability could lead to unauthorized administrative access to VMware Cloud Director Appliances, which are widely used for cloud infrastructure management and multi-tenant environments. Successful exploitation could compromise confidentiality, integrity, and availability of cloud resources managed via the appliance. Attackers could gain control over virtualized environments, potentially leading to data breaches, service disruptions, or lateral movement within corporate networks. Given the critical nature of cloud infrastructure in sectors such as finance, healthcare, and government across Europe, the impact could be severe. The bypass on SSH and management console ports increases the attack surface, especially if these interfaces are exposed or accessible within internal networks. Organizations that upgraded their VCD Appliances without updating the underlying Photon OS or applying patches are at highest risk. The lack of known exploits in the wild reduces immediate urgency but does not eliminate the threat, as attackers could develop exploits targeting this vulnerability. The impact is amplified in environments with weak network segmentation or insufficient monitoring of management interfaces.

References

Community reviews

Loading reviews…