VMware vCenter Server Appliance Security Update - Backup and Restore Vulnerability

VMware vCenter Server Appliance – Backup and Restore Vulnerability

VMware has released a new security advisory VMSA-2019-0018 (VMware vCenter Server Appliance updates address sensitive information disclosure vulnerability in backup and restore functions).

This advisory documents the remediation of one issue, rated with a severity of moderate. Sensitive information disclosure vulnerabilities resulting from a lack of certificate validation during the File-Based Backup and Restore operations of VMware vCenter Server Appliance may allow a malicious actor to intercept sensitive data in transit over FTPS, HTTPS, or SCP.

A man-in-the-middle positioned between vCenter Server Appliance and a backup target may be able to intercept data in transit during File-Based Backup and Restore operations.

The identifiers CVE-2019-5537 (data interception over FTPS and HTTPS) and CVE-2019-5538 (data interception over SCP) were assigned to this vulnerability.

Affected products and resolutions:

  • vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 – update to 6.7 Update 3a
  • vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 – update to 6.5 Update 3d

Remediation of CVE-2019-5537 and CVE-2019-5538 is not enabled by default. After upgrading vCenter Server Appliance, follow the steps in KB75156 (Enabling secure backup and restore in the vCenter Server Appliance) to enforce strict certificate validation.

You can check reports on other VMware vulnerabilities in my page dedicated to Security Advisories.

Constantin Ghioc

I usually play with vSphere API, Ansible, vRealize Automation, vRealize Orchestrator, and different AWS tools. In my other life I’m a husband and a father, an amateur photographer and a Go enthusiast.

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