SRC-2022-0022 : VMWare Cloud Foundation NSX-V VsmUsernamePasswordAuthenticationFilter parseUsernamePasswordFromXML XML External Entity Processing Information Disclosure Vulnerability

CVE ID: CVE-2022-31678

CVSS Score: 5.3, (/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N)

Affected Vendors: VMWare

Affected Products: Cloud Foundation NSX-V

Vulnerability Details:

This vulnerability allows remote attackers to disclose sensitive information on affected installations of VMWare Cloud Foundation NSX-V. Authentication is not required to exploit this vulnerability.

The specific flaw exists within the VsmUsernamePasswordAuthenticationFilter class. Due to the improper restriction of XML External Entity (XXE) references, a crafted XML request specifying a URI causes the XML parser to access the URI and embed the contents back into the XML document for further processing. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to disclose files in the context of root.

Vendor Response:

VMWare has issued an update to correct this vulnerability. More details can be found at: https://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2022-0022.html

Disclosure Timeline:

• 2022-08-03 – Sent to VMWare PSIRT

• 2022-10-26 – Coordinated public release of advisory

Credit: This vulnerability was discovered by Sina Kheirkhah and Steven Seeley of Source Incite