CVE-2022-22945 in NSX Data Center for vSphere
Summary
by MITRE • 02/16/2022
VMware NSX Edge contains a CLI shell injection vulnerability. A malicious actor with SSH access to an NSX-Edge appliance can execute arbitrary commands on the operating system as root.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/19/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-22945 represents a critical command line interface shell injection flaw within VMware NSX Edge appliances that operates at the core of network security infrastructure. This vulnerability exists in the command execution handling mechanisms of the NSX Edge platform, specifically affecting the shell interface that administrators use for system management and configuration tasks. The flaw stems from insufficient input validation and sanitization within the CLI processing components, creating an attack vector where maliciously crafted commands can be injected and subsequently executed with elevated privileges. Security researchers have classified this issue as a severe privilege escalation vulnerability due to its potential to allow unauthorized command execution with root-level system access.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability requires an attacker to possess valid SSH credentials for the NSX Edge appliance, which represents a relatively accessible attack vector considering that many organizations maintain administrative access credentials for network infrastructure components. Once authenticated, the malicious actor can leverage the shell injection flaw to execute arbitrary commands directly on the underlying operating system without requiring additional authentication mechanisms. The vulnerability specifically targets the command processing pipeline where user inputs are not properly sanitized before being passed to system shell commands, allowing attackers to inject malicious shell commands that bypass normal access controls and execute with the privileges of the root user. This presents a complete compromise of the affected appliance's security posture.
From an operational impact perspective, the exploitation of this vulnerability can result in complete system compromise of the NSX Edge appliance, enabling attackers to manipulate network traffic flows, modify security policies, access sensitive configuration data, and potentially establish persistent backdoors within the network infrastructure. The compromised appliance can serve as a staging point for further attacks against the internal network, allowing attackers to pivot to other systems and escalate their operations. This vulnerability directly impacts the integrity and availability of the network security services provided by the NSX Edge platform, potentially creating denial of service conditions while simultaneously providing unauthorized access to critical network infrastructure components. Organizations relying on NSX Edge for edge networking and security functions face significant operational risks when this vulnerability remains unpatched.
Organizations should prioritize immediate remediation through the application of VMware's official patches and security updates to address the command injection vulnerability. Network administrators should implement strict access controls and authentication measures for NSX Edge appliances, including multi-factor authentication and regular credential rotation procedures. The principle of least privilege should be enforced by limiting SSH access to only necessary administrative personnel and implementing network segmentation to isolate critical infrastructure components. Security monitoring should be enhanced to detect unusual command execution patterns and unauthorized access attempts to edge appliances. Additionally, organizations should conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments of their NSX Edge deployments and implement network detection capabilities that can identify potential exploitation attempts through anomalous shell command sequences. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-77 and CWE-78 categories related to command injection and improper input handling, while also mapping to ATT&CK techniques involving privilege escalation and command and control operations.