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CVE-2021-22048The vCenter Server contains a privilege escalation vulnerability in the IWA (Integrated Windows Authentication) authentication mechanism.…
- 8.8HighCVSS base score
- 10.3%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 4.2% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
The vCenter Server contains a privilege escalation vulnerability in the IWA (Integrated Windows Authentication) authentication mechanism. A malicious actor with non-administrative access to vCenter Server may exploit this issue to elevate privileges to a higher privileged group.
Timeline
ID reserved
By vmware
- 10 months later
· 10 months later
Published
- 3 years later
· 3 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | High8.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 10.3% · top 4.2% of all CVEs (13 Nov 2026)
Loading the EPSS history…
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 8.8.
Affected products
VMware vCenter Server and VMware Cloud Foundation
- affected VMware vCenter Server(7.0 and 6.7) and VMware Cloud Foundation (4.x and 3.x)
References
References3
- https://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2021-0025.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/167733/VMware-Security-Advisory-2022-0025.2.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/167795/VMware-Security-Advisory-2021-0025.3.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2021-9215 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2021-22048)Record last updated .