CVE-2024-37085Known exploitationPublic exploitNetwork attack vector

Host administrator access via name-based AD group trust

Published Jun 25, 2024 · Updated Oct 21, 2025

Authentication bypass in VMware ESXi 7.0 and 8.0 and Cloud Foundation 4.x and 5.x allows remote authenticated users to gain host administrator access. ESXi grants the configured AD group administrator privileges by name without validating its existence or security identifier, so a recreated or renamed group inherits access. Exploitation requires a domain-joined host and rights to manage the configured group; resulting access permits VM control and host-file encryption.

CVSS severity6.8
Medium
EPSS probability26.77%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationReported
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Authentication bypass in VMware ESXi 7.0 and 8.0 and Cloud Foundation 4.x and 5.x allows remote authenticated users to gain host administrator access. ESXi grants the configured AD group administrator privileges by name without validating its existence or security identifier, so a recreated or renamed group inherits access. Exploitation requires a domain-joined host and rights to manage the configured group; resulting access permits VM control and host-file encryption.

The record

CVE
CVE-2024-37085
Published
Jun 25, 2024
Updated
Oct 21, 2025
Vendor
VMware
Product
VMware Cloud Foundation
Classifications
CWE-305, T1078.002
Attack vector
network
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jun 25, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Jul 30, 2024Exploitation reportedCISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities listing
  3. Oct 21, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=4.0 <5.0
  2. Affected versionversion=4.x
  3. Affected versionversion=5.0 <5.2
  4. Affected versionversion=5.x

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

VMware · VMware Cloud Foundationversion=4.0 <5.0; version=4.x; version=5.0 <5.2; version=5.x
VMware · VMware ESXiversion=7.0; version=8.0 <ESXi80U3-24022510

Published CVSS scores

6.8VMware by BroadcomCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationReported
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-305Authentication Bypass by Primary Weakness
T1078.002Domain Accounts

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Reported exploitation

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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