high Known exploitedREV. 01

CVE-2024-37085VMware ESXi — a deleted admin group re-created for full access

On an ESXi host that uses Active Directory for user management, an attacker with enough directory rights deletes the 'ESXi Admins' group and re-creates it, and the host grants full access to whoever is in it. Ransomware crews are using this.

YOUR NEXT MOVE

Apply the ESXi update from the Broadcom advisory. Until it lands, watch the directory for the admin group being deleted and re-created, which is the whole attack.

Read the risk

THE VITAL STATS
CVSS score
7.2/ 10
CVSS v3.1
EPSS probability
27%
Likelihood of exploitation
Attack complexity
Low
Conditions needed to exploit
Known exploited
Yes — CISA KEV
CVE published
2024-06-25
Added to KEV
2024-07-30
Exploit published
Not recorded
Confidence
high
Kill chain
privilege escalation
MITRE ATT&CK
T1078
Severity
high

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

Attacker needsThe attacker needs directory rights to create groups, and the host must be joined to Active Directory.

Behind the card

3 REFERENCES
Field-level provenanceTRACE THE SOURCES +

Which source supports each field, when it was retrieved, and who extracted it.

FieldsSourceRetrievedExtractorConfidence
cvss, exploitation.attack_complexity, exploitation.exploit_available, references, published_atnvd.nist.gov2026-09-24scrty-crds-pipeline/0.1high
exploitation.known_exploited, exploitation.kev_addedcisa.gov2026-09-24scrty-crds-pipeline/0.1high
epssapi.first.org2026-09-24scrty-crds-pipeline/0.1high
title, summary, severity, remediation, mitre_attack, kill_chain, recommended_action, confidence, tags, exploitation.prerequisitesnvd.nist.gov2026-09-24claude-codehigh

Printing history

THE RECORD
  1. r1Initial base card

First printing. This card has not been reprinted since publication.

crds:cve-2024-37085 · CRDS 0.1 · Issued 2026-09-24