CVE-2021-21973

VMware vCenter Server and Cloud Foundation Server Side Request Forgery (SSRF) Vulnerability

  • Medium 5.3
  • Exploited: added to CISA KEV 7 Mar 2022

Description

The vSphere Client (HTML5) contains an SSRF (Server Side Request Forgery) vulnerability due to improper validation of URLs in a vCenter Server plugin. A malicious actor with network access to port 443 may exploit this issue by sending a POST request to vCenter Server plugin leading to information disclosure. This affects: VMware vCenter Server (7.x before 7.0 U1c, 6.7 before 6.7 U3l and 6.5 before 6.5 U3n) and VMware Cloud Foundation (4.x before 4.2 and 3.x before 3.10.1.2).

Key facts

Published
24 Feb 2021
Last changed
21 Oct 2025
Assigned by
vmware
KEV added
7 Mar 2022
KEV fix due
21 Mar 2022
EPSS
88.012% likely to be exploited in the next 30 days, higher than 99.769% of CVEs (scores for 15 Nov 2026)
SSVC (CISA)
Exploitation: active; Automatable: yes; Technical impact: partial

Severity scores

Each score is shown as its source gave it. They are not averaged or merged.

  • 5.3CVSS 3.1, Mediumfrom CISA (ADP container)CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

What to do

  • Apply updates per vendor instructions.CISA KEV required action

Historical context and remediation

This reference retains the original CVE publication date. A recent record update does not mean a new attack occurred.

No separately sourced impact summary is available on this page yet. Consult the description, version data and dated exploitation evidence.

Version statuses below come from the CNA. An “unaffected” version is not necessarily a currently supported release or proof of a patch date. EPSS is a dated risk estimate, not a count of historical attacks.

Read the original CVE record.

Affected products

VendorProductVersions
n/aVMware vCenter Server
  • 7.x before 7.0 U1c (affected)
  • 6.7 before 6.7 U3l (affected)
  • 6.5 before 6.5 U3n (affected)
n/aVMware Cloud Foundation
  • 4.x before 4.2 (affected)
  • 3.x before 3.10.1.2 (affected)

Timeline

  1. 24 Feb 2021 Published
  2. 7 Mar 2022 CVE-2021-21973 added to CISA KEV
  3. 7 Mar 2022 Added to the CISA KEV catalogue

Weakness

Practice this bug class

HackZoneLabs has a hands-on lab on SSRF (CWE-918).

References