Exploited. On CISA's list since 2024-11-20.
VMware vCenter Server Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
CVE-2024-38813 · VMware vCenter Server · Published 2024-09-17
How bad would it be?
9.8 out of 10
CVSS rates it critical: about as damaging as flaws get.
How likely is it to be used?
17%
Estimated chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 97% of all scored flaws (EPSS, 2026-10-29).
Is it already being used?
Yes
CISA has seen it exploited in real attacks. For US government agencies the fix is deadline passed 688 days ago (2024-12-11).
What CISA says to do
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
VMware vCenter contains an improper check for dropped privileges vulnerability. This vulnerability could allow an attacker with network access to the vCenter Server to escalate privileges to root by sending a specially crafted packet.
What the flaw is
The vCenter Server contains a privilege escalation vulnerability. A malicious actor with network access to vCenter Server may trigger this vulnerability to escalate privileges to root by sending a specially crafted network packet.
From the NVD.
Fixes and advisories
Learn this
Explore this week’s weaknesses and all learning topics
Understand the kind of weakness behind this flaw. These resources teach the weakness, rather than reproduce this specific CVE. Follow the vendor's advice above to fix the affected product.
CWE-250 · CISA KEV; NVD record: security@vmware.com. We have not selected a close learning match for this label.
CWE-273 · CISA KEV; NVD record: nvd@nist.gov; NVD record: security@vmware.com. We have not selected a close learning match for this label.
CWE is a catalogue of weakness types. Labels come from the sources shown and can differ or change. Resource matches reviewed 16 October 2026.
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Exploited flaws from CISA's KEV catalogue. Chance of exploitation from EPSS by FIRST. Descriptions and scores from the NVD. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.