CVE-2021-21999: VMware App Volumes

High severity, CVSS 7.8. EPSS: 1.5% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

VMware Tools for Windows (11.x.y prior to 11.2.6), VMware Remote Console for Windows (12.x prior to 12.0.1) , VMware App Volumes (2.x prior to 2.18.10 and 4 prior to 2103) contain a local privilege escalation vulnerability. An attacker with normal access to a virtual machine may exploit this issue by placing a malicious file renamed as `openssl.cnf' in an unrestricted directory which would allow code to be executed with elevated privileges.

Affected products

• VMware App Volumes: from 2.0, before 2.18.10 (fixed in 2.18.10); from 4, before 2103 (fixed in 2103)
• VMware Remote Console: from 12.0.0, before 12.0.1 (fixed in 12.0.1)
• VMware Tools: from 11.0.0, before 11.2.6 (fixed in 11.2.6)

Published 2021-06-23. Last modified 2026-06-17.