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PatchSiren cyber security CVE debrief

CVE-2023-20867 VMware CVE debrief

CVE-2023-20867 is an authentication bypass vulnerability in VMware Tools. CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2023-06-23, which means it should be treated as a prioritized remediation item. The supplied corpus does not include exploit mechanics or affected-version details, so the safest response is to follow VMware’s update guidance and verify that VMware Tools is fully patched.

Vendor
VMware
Product
Tools
CVSS
Unknown
CISA KEV
Listed
Original CVE published
2023-06-23
Original CVE updated
2023-06-23
Advisory published
2023-06-23
Advisory updated
2023-06-23

Who should care

VMware administrators, endpoint and virtualization teams, VDI operators, and security teams responsible for systems that run VMware Tools.

Technical summary

The public record identifies CVE-2023-20867 as a VMware Tools authentication bypass vulnerability. CISA’s KEV entry marks it as known exploited and instructs organizations to apply updates per vendor instructions. The source corpus does not provide a CVSS score, severity rating, or detailed exploit chain, so remediation should be driven by the KEV listing and VMware’s official advisory guidance.

Defensive priority

High priority. Because this CVE is in CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, remediation should be expedited ahead of non-KEV issues and completed by the KEV due date when possible.

Recommended defensive actions

  • Inventory systems that have VMware Tools installed.
  • Review VMware’s official security advisory referenced in the source metadata for applicable fixes.
  • Apply VMware updates per vendor instructions as soon as possible.
  • Confirm remediation on all in-scope systems rather than assuming a single patch cycle covered every endpoint.
  • Track the CISA KEV due date of 2023-07-14 for remediation completion and exception handling.

Evidence notes

CISA’s KEV metadata lists the vulnerability as "VMware Tools Authentication Bypass Vulnerability," with dateAdded 2023-06-23 and dueDate 2023-07-14, and the required action "Apply updates per vendor instructions." The supplied source metadata also references VMware security advisory VMSA-2023-0013 and the NVD detail page for CVE-2023-20867. No additional exploit or version details are present in the provided corpus.

Official resources

Public disclosure date in the supplied data is 2023-06-23. This debrief is limited to defensive, evidence-based summary information from the provided source corpus.