CVE-2024-38832
📋 TL;DR
VMware Aria Operations contains a stored cross-site scripting vulnerability that allows authenticated users with editing access to inject malicious scripts into views. This can lead to session hijacking, credential theft, or unauthorized actions when other users access those views. Organizations using vulnerable versions of VMware Aria Operations are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- VMware Aria Operations
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete compromise of administrator accounts leading to full system takeover, data exfiltration, and lateral movement within the environment.
Likely Case
Session hijacking of authenticated users, credential theft, and unauthorized administrative actions within the VMware Aria Operations interface.
If Mitigated
Limited impact due to proper input validation, output encoding, and Content Security Policy implementation.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires authenticated access with view editing permissions. The vulnerability is in the view editing functionality where user input is not properly sanitized.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 8.18.1 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://support.broadcom.com/web/ecx/support-content-notification/-/external/content/SecurityAdvisories/0/25199
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Download VMware Aria Operations 8.18.1 or later from VMware portal. 2. Backup current configuration. 3. Apply the update following VMware's upgrade documentation. 4. Restart the service/application. 5. Verify the update was successful.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict View Editing Permissions
allLimit view editing capabilities to only essential administrators to reduce attack surface.
Implement Content Security Policy
allAdd CSP headers to restrict script execution sources and prevent XSS payloads from executing.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict input validation and output encoding for all user-controllable fields in custom views
- Monitor and audit view creation/modification activities for suspicious patterns
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check VMware Aria Operations version via web interface (Admin → Support → About) or CLI command 'vrops-cli version'Check Version:
vrops-cli versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify version is 8.18.1 or higher and test view editing functionality with XSS payloads to confirm sanitization📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual view creation/modification patterns
- Administrative actions from unexpected user accounts
- JavaScript payloads in view configuration logs
Network Indicators:
- Unexpected outbound connections from VMware Aria Operations server
- Suspicious HTTP requests containing script tags or JavaScript code
SIEM Query:
source="vrops-logs" AND ("view.edit" OR "view.create") AND ("script" OR "javascript" OR "onload" OR "onerror")