VMware Security Advisories
VMSA-2014-0012.1
VMware vSphere product updates address security vulnerabilities
VMware Security Advisory
1. Summary
VMware vSphere product updates address a Cross Site Scripting issue, a certificate validation issue and security vulnerabilities in third-party libraries.
2. Relevant Releases
VMware vCenter Server Appliance 5.1 Prior to Update 3
VMware vCenter Server 5.5 prior to Update 2
VMware vCenter Server 5.1 prior to Update 3
VMware vCenter Server 5.0 prior to Update 3c
VMware ESXi 5.1 without patch ESXi510-201412101-SG
VMware ESXi 5.5
VMware ESXi 5.0
3. Problem Description
a. VMware vCSA cross-site scripting vulnerability
VMware vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA) contains a vulnerability that may allow for Cross Site Scripting. Exploitation of this vulnerability in vCenter Server requires tricking a user to click on a malicious link or to open a malicious web page.
VMware would like to thank Tanya Secker of Trustwave SpiderLabs for reporting this issue to us.
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CVE-2014-3797 to this issue.
Column 4 of the following table lists the action required to remediate the vulnerability in each release, if a solution is available.
VMware Product
Product Version
Running on
Replace with/ Apply Patch
b. vCenter Server certificate validation issue
vCenter Server does not properly validate the presented certificate when establishing a connection to a CIM Server residing on an ESXi host. This may allow for a Man-in-the-middle attack against the CIM service.
VMware would like to thank The Google Security Team for reporting this issue to us.
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the identifier CVE-2014-8371 to this issue.
Column 4 of the following table lists the action required to remediate the vulnerability in each release, if a solution is available.
VMware Product
Product Version
Running on
Replace with/ Apply Patch
c. Update to ESXi libxml2 package
libxml2 is updated to address multiple security issues.
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the names CVE-2013-2877 and CVE-2014-0191 to these issues.
Column 4 of the following table lists the action required to remediate the vulnerability in each release, if a solution is available.
VMware Product
Product Version
Running on
Replace with/ Apply Patch
d. Update to ESXi Curl package
Curl is updated to address multiple security issues.
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the names CVE-2014-0015 and CVE-2014-0138 to these issues.
Column 4 of the following table lists the action required to remediate the vulnerability in each release, if a solution is available.
VMware Product
Product Version
Running on
Replace with/ Apply Patch
e. Update to ESXi Python package
Python is updated to address multiple security issues.
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the names CVE-2013-1752 and CVE-2013-4238 to these issues.
Column 4 of the following table lists the action required to remediate the vulnerability in each release, if a solution is available.
VMware Product
Product Version
Running on
Replace with/ Apply Patch
f. vCenter and Update Manager, Oracle JRE 1.6 Update 81
Oracle has documented the CVE identifiers that are addressed in JRE 1.6.0 update 81 in the Oracle Java SE Critical Patch Update Advisory of July 2014. The References section provides a link to this advisory.
VMware Product
Product Version
Running on
Replace with/ Apply Patch
* this product uses the Oracle JRE 1.7.0 family
4. Solution
Please review the patch/release notes for your product and version and verify the checksum of your downloaded file.
vCSA 5.1 Update 3, vCenter Server 5.1 Update 3 and Update Manager 5.1 Update 3
Downloads and Documentation:
https://www.vmware.com/go/download-vsphere
ESXi 5.1
File: update-from-esxi5.1-5.1_update03.zip.zip
md5sum: b3fd3549b59c6c59c04bfd09b08c6edf
sha1sum: 02139101fe205894774caac02820f6ea8416fb8b
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2086288
update-from-esxi5.1-5.1_update03 contains ESXi510-201412101-SG
5. References
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2014-3797
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2014-8371
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2013-2877
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2014-0191
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2014-0015
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2014-0138
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2013-1752
http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2013-4238
JRE - Oracle Java SE Critical Patch Update Advisory of July 2014
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/cpujul2014-1972956.html
6. Change log
2014-12-04 VMSA-2014-0012
Initial security advisory in conjunction with the release of VMware vCSA 5.1 Update 3, vCenter Server 5.1 Update 3 and ESXi 5.1 Patches released on 2014-12-04.
2015-01-27 VMSA-2014-0012.1
Security advisory updated in conjunction with the release of VMware ESXi 5.5 Patches released on 2015-01-27.
7. Contact
E-mail list for product security notifications and announcements:
http://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
- fulldisclosure at seclists.org
PGP key at: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1055
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