Zero-Day Advisory

Fortinet Discovers VMware ESXi Command Injection Vulnerability

Summary

Fortinet's FortiGuard Labs has discovered a Command Injection vulnerability in VMware ESXi.

VMware ESXi is a purpose-built bare-metal hypervisor that installs directly onto a physical server.

A Command Injection vulnerability has been discovered in VMware ESXi 6.0, 6.5 and 6.7. The vulnerability exists because ESXi is using an old version of busybox 1.22.1 which contains this vulnerability. The vulnerability allows users with permission to create or upload a file with the crafted filename which could result in code execution, arbitrary file write, or other attacks.

Solutions

Users should apply the solution provided by VMware.

Timeline

Fortinet reported the vulnerability to VMware on August 6, 2018.

VMware confirmed the vulnerability on August 29, 2018.

VMware patched the vulnerability on September 16, 2019.

References

• https://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2019-0013.html
  

• CVE-2017-16544

Acknowledgement

This vulnerability was discovered by Zhouyuan Yang of Fortinet's FortiGuard Labs.

IPS Subscription

Fortinet customers who subscribe to Fortinet's intrusion prevention (IPS) service should be protected against this vulnerability with the appropriate configuration parameters in place. Fortinet's IPS service is one component of FortiGuard Subscription Services, which also offer comprehensive solutions such as antivirus, Web content filtering and antispam capabilities. These services enable protection against threats on both application and network layers. FortiGuard Services are continuously updated by FortiGuard Labs, which enables Fortinet to deliver a combination of multi-layered security intelligence and true zero-day protection from new and emerging threats. These updates are delivered to all FortiGate, FortiMail and FortiClient products. Fortinet strictly follows responsible disclosure guidelines to ensure optimum protection during a threat's lifecycle.