Today VMware published security advisory VMSA-2014-0013 which describes a critical remote privilege escalation vulnerability in the VMware Remote Console (VMRC) component of vCloud Automation Center. The VMRC is used for direct console connections to virtual machines, using vCenter Server. This feature is published in the vCAC portal as “Connect Using VMRC”. The issue may allow an authenticated vCAC user to obtain administrative access on your vCenter Server.
All 6.0 and 6.1 versions of vCloud Automation Center are affected by this issue: 6.0.1, 6.0.1.1, 6.0.1.2 but also 6.1 and 6.1.1. vRealize Automation 6.2 (the new name for vCloud Automation Center), released today, is not affected.
There’s currently no solution for the problem, a workaround is to remove the “Connect Using VMRC” option from the portal and instruct users to use a RDP or SSH connection.
Read the full bulletin here.