CVE-2016-3643

HIGH KEV

SolarWinds Virtualization Manager <6.3.1 - Privilege Escalation

Title source: llm

Exploitation Summary

CVE-2016-3643 is actively exploited and listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, added November 3, 2021. EIP tracks 1 public exploit from researchers including Nate Kettlewell.

AI-analyzed exploit summary The exploit details a sudo misconfiguration in Solarwinds Virtualization Manager, allowing any local user to execute commands as root. The PoC demonstrates reading /etc/passwd using sudo, highlighting a privilege escalation vulnerability.

Description

SolarWinds Virtualization Manager 6.3.1 and earlier allow local users to gain privileges by leveraging a misconfiguration of sudo, as demonstrated by "sudo cat /etc/passwd."

Exploits (1)

exploitdb WRITEUP

by Nate Kettlewell · textlocallinux

https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/39967

View Code ZIP pw:eip

The exploit details a sudo misconfiguration in Solarwinds Virtualization Manager, allowing any local user to execute commands as root. The PoC demonstrates reading /etc/passwd using sudo, highlighting a privilege escalation vulnerability.

Classification

Writeup 100%

Attack Type

Lpe

Complexity

Trivial

Reliability

Reliable

Target: Solarwinds Virtualization Manager < 6.3.1

Auth required

Prerequisites: Local shell access on the vulnerable appliance

MITRE ATT&CK

T1068 - Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 16, 2026 Full analysis →

References (4)

Core 4

Core References

Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry exploit x_refsource_exploit-db

https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/39967/

Mailing List, Third Party Advisory mailing-list x_refsource_fulldisc

http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Jun/26

Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry x_refsource_misc

http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/137487/Solarwinds-Virtualization-Manager-6.3.1-Privilege-Escalation.html

Third Party Advisory, US Government Resource

https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2016-3643

Scores

CVSS v3 7.8

EPSS 0.0370

EPSS Percentile 88.3%

Attack Vector LOCAL

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CISA SSVC

Vulnrichment

Exploitation active

Automatable no

Technical Impact total

Details

CISA KEV 2021-11-03

VulnCheck KEV 2021-11-03

InTheWild.io 2021-07-23

ENISA EUVD EUVD-2016-4668

CWE

CWE-264

Status published

Products (1)

solarwinds/virtualization_manager < 6.3.1

Published Jun 17, 2016

KEV Added Nov 03, 2021

Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026