VMware Tools Authentication Bypass Vulnerability

Added to KEV
2023-06-23
Federal due date
2023-07-14
Vendor
VMware
Product
Tools
EPSS
84.7th percentile (score 0.022, as of 2026-06-08)
NVD CVSS v3.1
Ransomware use
Unknown
Upstream
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-20867

CISA short description

VMware Tools contains an authentication bypass vulnerability in the vgauth module. 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. An attacker must have root access over ESXi to exploit this vulnerability.

Required action

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

EPSS percentile is the FIRST.org exploit-probability ranking as of the date noted above; it moves daily. CVSS reflects NVD's analysis at time of publication.