CVE-2024-37085

Exp

VMware ESXi contains an authentication bypass vulnerability. A malicious actor with sufficient Active Directory (AD) permissions can gain full access to an ESXi host that was previously configured to use AD for user management https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/09/joining-vsphere-hosts-to-active-directory.html by re-creating the configured AD group ('ESXi Admins' by default) after it was deleted from AD.

Published: 2024-06-25 Last update: 2025-10-30 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2024-37085 is rated Critical Active Threat (90.4/100): CVSS Medium severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 79.12%, 99th percentile). CISA KEV confirms active exploitation (added 2024-07-30) affecting VMware / ESXi. an authentication bypass (CWE-287) Unauthenticated remote administrative access may be possible. EPSS rose +3.50% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. The CISA remediation deadline has passed—treat as an emergency patch priority.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

CISA KEV Record for CVE-2024-37085

Name: VMware ESXi Authentication Bypass Vulnerability · CISA KEV detail

Exploit added: 2024-07-30

Action due: 2024-08-20

Required action: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2024-37085

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-02 75.62% 79.12% +3.50%
2 2026-05-26 77.00% 75.62% -1.38%
3 2026-05-24 — 77.00% —

Full EPSS history (63 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2024-37085

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.8 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 0.9 5.9 [email protected]
7.2 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.2 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2024-37085

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2024-37085

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
vmware cloud_foundation >= 4.0, < 5.2 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:cloud_foundation:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware esxi 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware esxi 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:8.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware esxi 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:8.0:a:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware esxi 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:8.0:b:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware esxi 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:8.0:c:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware esxi 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:8.0:update_1:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware esxi 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:8.0:update_1a:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware esxi 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:8.0:update_1c:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware esxi 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:8.0:update_1d:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware esxi 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:8.0:update_2:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware esxi 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:8.0:update_2b:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware esxi 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:8.0:update_2c:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2024-37085

cvelogic Threat Intelligence