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VMSA-2008-0015

Updated ESXi and ESX 3.5 packages address critical security issue in openwsman

1. Summary

Updated ESXi and ESX 3.5 packages address critical security issue in openwsman

2. Relevant releases

VMware ESXi 3.5 Update 2 without patch ESXe350-200808501-I-SG

VMware ESX 3.5 Update 2 without patch ESX350-200808413-SG

3. Problem Description

a. Updated Openwsman

Openwsman is a system management platform that implements the Web
Services Management protocol (WS-Management). It is installed and
running by default. It is used in the VMware Management Service
Console and in ESXi.
The openwsman 2.0.0 management service on ESX 3.5 and ESXi 3.5 is
vulnerable to the following issue found by the SuSE Security-Team:
- Two remote buffer overflows while decoding the HTTP basic
authentication header
This vulnerability could potentially be exploited by users without
valid login credentials.
Openwsman before 2.0.0 is not vulnerable to this issue. The ESXi
3.5 patch ESXe350-200808201-O-UG updated openwsman to version 2.0.0.
The ESX 3.5 patch ESX350-200808205-UG updated openwsman to version
2.0.0. These patches are installed as part of the ESX and ESXi
Upgrade 2 release. The ESX patch can be installed individually.
Version Information and Workaround
The following VMware KB articles provide information on how to
obtain the version of openwsman in your environment and what a
possible workaround for the issue might be.
ESXi 3.5
Refer to the VMware KB article at kb.vmware.com/kb/1005818.
ESX 3.5
Refer to the VMware KB article at kb.vmware.com/kb/1006878.
Note: This vulnerability can be exploited remotely only if the
attacker has access to the service console network.
Security best practices provided by VMware recommend that the
service console be isolated from the VM network. Please see
www.vmware.com/resources/techresources/726 for more
information on VMware security best practices.
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Project (cve.mitre.org)
has assigned the name CVE-2008-2234 this issue.
The following table lists what action remediates the vulnerability
(column 4) if a solution is available.

* hosted products are VMware Workstation, Player, ACE, Server, Fusion.
** ESX and ESXi running openwsman 2.0.0
*** ESX and ESXi running version of openwsman before 2.0.0

Note: When the SuSE Security-Team reported this openwsman security
issue, it also reported the openwsman issue described in
CVE-2008-2233. No VMware product is affected by the security
vulnerability described in CVE-2008-2233.

4. Solution

Please review the patch/release notes for your product and version
and verify the md5sum of your downloaded file.

ESXi
----

ESXi 3.5 patch ESXe350-200808501-O-SG
download3.vmware.com/software/esx/ESXe350-200808501-O-SG.zip
md5sum: bee3e2da8054e46686e446e8dc49040e
kb.vmware.com/kb/1005818

NOTE: ESXe350-200808501-O-SG contains the following patch bundles:
ESXe350-200808501-I-SG, ESXe350-200808502-T-BG, and
ESXe350-200808203-C-UG

ESX
---

ESX 3.5 patch ESX350-200808413-SG
download3.vmware.com/software/esx/ESX350-200808413-SG.zip
md5sum: 2a683d099c28315475db53bd459dcc07
kb.vmware.com/kb/1006878

5. References

CVE numbers:

CVE-2008-2234

6. Change log

2008-09-18 VMSA-2008-0015
Initial security advisory after the release of ESXi 3.5 and ESX 3.5
patches on 2008-09-18.

7. Contact

E-mail list for product security notifications and announcements:
lists.vmware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/security-announce

This Security Advisory is posted to the following lists:

* security-announce at lists.vmware.com
* bugtraq at securityfocus.com
* full-disclosure at lists.grok.org.uk

E-mail: security at vmware.com
PGP key at: kb.vmware.com/kb/1055

VMware Security Center
www.vmware.com/security

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General support life cycle policy
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Copyright 2008 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.