High

Privilege Escalation in VMware Workspace ONE Access and Identity Manager

IdentifiersCVE-2022-22973CWE-269

CVE-2022-22973 is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in VMware Workspace ONE Access and Identity Manager. A local attacker with access to the system can exploit this flaw to escalate privileges to root. The vulnerability affects multiple VMware products, including Workspace ONE Access, Identity Manager, vRealize Automation (when using embedded vIDM), Cloud Foundation, and vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager. The vulnerability was reported by Kai Zhao of ToTU Security Team and Steven Yu.

For your environment

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation allows a local attacker to gain root privileges on the affected system, potentially leading to full system compromise, lateral movement, and persistence. This can enable attackers to bypass security controls, access sensitive data, and further compromise the environment.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

There are no documented workarounds for CVE-2022-22973. The only effective mitigation is to apply the vendor-supplied patches. Until patching is possible, restrict local access to the affected systems to trusted users only and monitor for suspicious local activity.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Apply the security patches released by VMware for all affected products as soon as possible. VMware has released updates that fully address this vulnerability. Refer to VMware advisory VMSA-2022-0014 for specific patch information and affected versions.

PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.

VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType

BroadcomCloud Foundationapplication

BroadcomIdentity Managerapplication

BroadcomVrealize Suite Lifecycle Managerapplication

BroadcomWorkspace One Accessapplication

Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

1 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.

1 SOURCESView more in app

palo alto networks unit 42 blogNews

May 20, 2022

Threat Brief: VMware Vulnerabilities Exploited in the Wild (CVE-2022-22954 and Others)

A VMware vulnerability affecting the same products as the other discussed flaws, highlighted by CISA as highly likely to be exploited.

What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

This page is what’s public. Mallory adds the parts that aren’t: which of your assets are affected, which adversaries are exploiting it right now, which detections to deploy, and what to do tonight.

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Exposure mapping

Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.

Threat actor evidence

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity