CVE-2020-3956

HIGH

VMware Cloud Director 9.5.0.0-9.5.0.5 - Authenticated Remote Code Execution via Expression Language Injection

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

EIP tracks 2 public exploits for CVE-2020-3956. PoCs published by aaronsvk.

AI-analyzed exploit summary This exploit leverages an Expression Injection vulnerability in VMware vCloud Director to achieve Remote Code Execution (RCE) by injecting a malicious payload into the SMTP host name field. The payload uses Java reflection to execute arbitrary commands on the target system.

Description

VMware Cloud Director 10.0.x before 10.0.0.2, 9.7.0.x before 9.7.0.5, 9.5.0.x before 9.5.0.6, and 9.1.0.x before 9.1.0.4 do not properly handle input leading to a code injection vulnerability. An authenticated actor may be able to send malicious traffic to VMware Cloud Director which may lead to arbitrary remote code execution. This vulnerability can be exploited through the HTML5- and Flex-based UIs, the API Explorer interface and API access.

Exploits (2)

exploitdb WORKING POC
by aaronsvk · pythonremotelinux
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/48540

This exploit leverages an Expression Injection vulnerability in VMware vCloud Director to achieve Remote Code Execution (RCE) by injecting a malicious payload into the SMTP host name field. The payload uses Java reflection to execute arbitrary commands on the target system.

Classification
Working Poc 100%
Attack Type
Rce
Complexity
Moderate
Reliability
Reliable
Target: VMware vCloud Director 9.7.0.15498291
Auth required
Prerequisites: Valid credentials for vCloud Director · Network access to the target system
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 16, 2026 Full analysis →
nomisec WORKING POC 89 stars
by aaronsvk · poc
https://github.com/aaronsvk/CVE-2020-3956

This repository contains a functional exploit for CVE-2020-3956, a remote code execution vulnerability in VMware Cloud Director. The exploit leverages an expression injection flaw in the SMTP host configuration to execute arbitrary commands on the target system.

Classification
Working Poc 100%
Attack Type
Rce
Complexity
Moderate
Reliability
Reliable
Target: VMware Cloud Director 9.7.0.15498291
Auth required
Prerequisites: Valid credentials for VMware Cloud Director · Network access to the target system
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 18, 2026 Full analysis →

References (4)

Core 4
Core References
Exploit, Third Party Advisory x_refsource_misc
https://github.com/aaronsvk/CVE-2020-3956

Scores

CVSS v3 8.8
EPSS 0.2110
EPSS Percentile 97.3%
Attack Vector NETWORK
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Details

CWE
CWE-917
Status published
Products (1)
vmware/vcloud_director 9.5.0.0 - 9.5.0.6
Published May 20, 2020
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026