Threats / VMware / CVE-2020-3952
CVE-2020-3952
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-06-22
VMware vCenter Server vulnerability
VMware vCenter Server contains an information disclosure vulnerability in the VMware Directory Service when the Platform Services Controller does not correctly implement access controls, allowing network-based extraction of sensitive inform
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
An unauthenticated attacker with network access to port 389 can exploit missing access controls in vmdir to extract sensitive information from vCenter Server. This vulnerability has been actively exploited in the wild.
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreExploit available
Fully weaponized — public exploit code is cataloged for this vulnerability.We link the existence of the exploit; we do not host or redistribute payloads.
Reported exploitation
2 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-03).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.90384 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
Affected: VMware, vCenter Server. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-306 Missing Authentication — weakness family: Authentication.CWE assignment from the public NVD record; the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I identify that vCenter Server exposes the LDAP service on port 389 without proper access controls.
Business
Sensitive directory information stored in vCenter becomes accessible to unauthenticated network actors.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I query the unprotected vmdir service to extract credentials, configuration data, and other sensitive information.
Business
Compromised credentials and system details enable lateral movement and further infrastructure compromise.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I use extracted information to escalate privileges or access other systems within the virtualization environment.
Business
Attacker gains control over critical virtualization infrastructure, threatening all hosted workloads and data.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05