VMware has released patches for its vCenter Server product to address a critical remote code execution flaw that exists due to the use of a vulnerable third-party component.

Earlier this month, CERT/CC informed users that Markus Wulftange, senior penetration tester at Code White, had identified three potentially serious deserialization-related flaws in several Java implementations of AMF3, the latest version of Adobe’s Action Message Format.

The vulnerabilities can be exploited for denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, remote code execution and to obtain sensitive data. The affected software includes Apache’s Flex BlazeDS, Atlassian’s JIRA, Exadel’s Flamingo, GraniteDS, Spring spring-flex, and WebORB for Java by Midnight Coders.

One of the BlazeDS vulnerabilities, tracked as CVE-2017-5641, has been found to affect VMware vCenter Server, which uses BlazeDS to process AMF3 messages.

“The issue is present in the the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) functionality. If a customer has opted out of CEIP the vulnerability is still present. Also opting out will not remove the vulnerability,” VMware said in its advisory.

The security hole affects vCenter Server 6.0 and 6.5; version 5.5 or other VMware products are not impacted. VMware has advised users to apply the 6.5c and 6.0U3b patches to address the vulnerability.

According to CERT/CC, the deserialization vulnerabilities identified by Wulftange could also affect products from HPE and SonicWall.

Related: VMware Updates Products Due to Flaw in Apache Flex BlazeDS

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Eduard Kovacs is an international correspondent for SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.

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