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A Critical Breach in Privilege Control
A newly disclosed vulnerability in HPE OneView for VMware vCenter (OV4VC) is causing ripples across enterprise security landscapes. Identified as CVE-2025-37101, this flaw allows users with only read-only access to gain administrative-level privileges, putting entire virtual infrastructures at risk. With a CVSS v3.1 rating of 8.7, the issue is deemed high severity and demands urgent attention from system administrators and IT security teams alike. HPE has released a security patch with version v11.7, urging users to apply updates immediately. The vulnerability represents a significant case of vertical privilege escalation, threatening confidentiality, integrity, and availability in VMware environments.
Exploiting the Privilege Gap
The vulnerability resides in OV4VCās authorization mechanism, where weak access control implementation allows authenticated but low-privilege users to bypass role-based restrictions. Once exploited, these users can perform administrative actions typically restricted to higher-tier roles, such as changing configurations, managing virtual resources, and potentially disabling key security settings.
The attack is network-based (AV:N) and requires low complexity (AC:L), meaning it can be executed with minimal technical effort once access is gained. The primary danger lies in trusted insiders or compromised user accounts that initially appear benign. This kind of attack surface is particularly concerning in shared virtual environments where role separation is essential for operational security.
All deployments of OV4VC prior to v11.7, including those using Operations Manager and Log Insight, are vulnerable. Although HPE confirmed that no active exploits have been observed, the high exploitability score indicates a strong potential for future threats, especially if patches are delayed or skipped.
Administrators are advised to not only patch their systems but also review and audit existing user roles, ensuring the principle of least privilege is actively enforced. Moreover, continuous monitoring of authentication logs could help detect early signs of privilege misuse.
This vulnerability is not an isolated incident. It follows a string of critical security issues in HPEās product line, including:
StoreOnce (CVE-2025-37093): An authentication bypass flaw rated 9.8
Apache Tomcat vulnerabilities (CVE-2024-38475/6) in OneView, also rated 9.8
Previous OV4VC weaknesses such as XSS (CVE-2021-26584) and command injection flaws (CVE-2023-50274)
Given the increasing convergence of virtualization and cloud-native infrastructure, organizations must prioritize proactive patch management and strict access control hygiene to guard against such privilege-based attacks.
What Undercode Say:
Privilege Escalation Is a Ticking Time Bomb
The real danger with CVE-2025-37101 is not just the ability to escalate privileges but the ease with which it can be done. In environments where read-only access is often widely granted to operators or support teams, a single compromised account could lead to full administrative control. This is a classic vertical escalation flaw ā deceptively simple but dangerously effective.
Attackers Love Low Complexity, High Impact Bugs
From a threat
Misconfigurations Make It Worse
Many enterprises do not regularly audit their user roles and access control structures, especially in sprawling VMware environments. This opens the door for prolonged exposure, where even after initial compromise, attackers can remain undetected, using legitimate-looking accounts to operate with admin privileges.
Why This Isnāt Just Another Patch Cycle
This vulnerability underscores a deeper issue: the misplaced trust in role-based access controls without proper testing. Role boundaries must be validated both during product development and ongoing operations. Enterprises often overlook these elements until a breach forces their hand.
HPEās swift patch release is commendable, but patching alone isnāt enough. Organizations must implement continuous privilege auditing, real-time monitoring, and zero-trust frameworks to minimize lateral movement within their networks.
The Broader Context: A Pattern of Weaknesses
CVE-2025-37101 is not an outlier;
Such patterns increase the risk of supply-chain vulnerabilities, where attackers exploit one flaw to inject malicious code or pivot to more critical systems. The increasingly modular design of enterprise IT stacks only adds to this threat.
Virtualization Security: The New Battleground
As businesses consolidate services onto virtual platforms, the hypervisor and its management layers become prime targets. OV4VC sits at this critical intersection ā managing VMware resources while feeding into broader IT operations. A breach here can ripple across cloud, on-prem, and hybrid environments.
The risk is especially high in multi-tenant datacenters or environments with cross-domain integrations, where one compromised role can cascade through interconnected systems.
š Fact Checker Results:
ā
Confirmed CVE: CVE-2025-37101 is a real and documented vulnerability.
ā
Patch Released: HPE has issued version 11.7 to address this flaw.
ā No Known Exploits Yet: As of now, no active exploitation has been detected in the wild.
š Prediction:
š® We expect proof-of-concept (PoC) exploits for this vulnerability to surface in public GitHub repositories or dark web forums within 30ā45 days, especially if organizations delay patching.
š Enterprises relying heavily on VMware with HPE integrations may experience a surge in targeted phishing or credential stuffing as attackers seek access to exploitable roles.
š”ļø Security vendors and SIEM platforms will likely roll out dedicated detection rules or threat signatures tied to this CVE in the coming weeks.
References:
Reported By: cyberpress.org
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