CVE-2026-41709
VMware ESX contains an insufficient logging vulnerability. A malicious administrator could exploit this issue to perform certain operations without them being logged.
- CVSS
- 2.7Lowscored by the publisher (CNA)
- Exploited in the wild
- Yes, in CISA KEV since 28 Oct 2026CISA deadline for US federal agencies: 11 Nov 2026
- EPSS
- 0.69%chance of exploitation in the next 30 daystop 47% of scored CVEsFIRST score of 11 Nov 2026
- Fix
- Patch availablesee the advisories in the references
- Published
- 30 Jul 2026analysed here 12 Nov 2026
Do first. Apply mitigations in accordance with vendor instructions, ensuring compliance with CISA’s BOD 26-04 Prioritizing Security Updates Based on Risk (see URL in Notes) guidance and CISA’s “Forensics Triage Requirements” (see URL in Notes). Follow applicable BOD 26-04 guidance for cloud services or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. Stakeholders are responsible for evaluating each asset's internet exposure and ensuring adherence to BOD 26-04 patching guidelines. (CISA's required action for this KEV entry)
Summary
Triage
- Exploitable
- At runtime
- Attack vector
- network
- Weakness
- CWE-778 Common Weakness
The summary, impact and action text on this page are written by our AI analysis pipeline, or taken from the NVD description when a CVE was imported from NVD. They are not the vendor's wording: check them against the sources. A longer AI executive summary and technical analysis are generated for signed-in accounts on the Max plan.
Affected products
| Product | Affected versions | Vendor says fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| VMware Cloud Foundation | 9.1.x.x9.0.x.x>= 5.x and < 5.2.4Vendor says fixed in: not stated | |
| VMware ESX | >= 9.1.x.x and < ESXi-9.1.0.0-25370933>= 9.0.x.x and < ESXi-9.0.2.0100-25595025>= 8.0 and < ESXi80U3j-25429389Vendor says fixed in: not stated | |
| VMware Telco Cloud Platform | 5.1.x5.0.xVendor says fixed in: not stated | |
| VMware vSphere Foundation | 9.1.x.x9.0.x.xVendor says fixed in: not stated |
As published in the CVE Program record. A version outside these ranges is not a statement that it is unaffected — vendors sometimes understate a range, and distribution-backported builds carry upstream numbers that do not reflect what was patched into them.
Products named in our analysis
- vmware:esxi
Fix and mitigation
WAF and other mitigations
Can a WAF block it? No. The vulnerability requires a malicious administrator to perform operations on the system, which implies local or privileged access rather than remote HTTP requests. Therefore, a web application firewall cannot filter or block such attacks.
Also consider: patch
Based on an AI reading of the CVE description, and no vendor rule found yet. We check Cloudflare, AWS, Google Cloud Armor and Azure; for Akamai, Imperva, Fastly, F5, ask your vendor.
Remediation steps (AI-written)
Step-by-step remediation is generated for accounts on the Max plan, for CVEs that match a technology in their stack. Add this technology to your stack to see the fix checklist.
Exploitation evidence
- CISA KEV catalog
- Listed since 28 Oct 2026.
- CISA due date
- 11 Nov 2026, the remediation deadline for US federal agencies
- CISA required action
- Apply mitigations in accordance with vendor instructions, ensuring compliance with CISA’s BOD 26-04 Prioritizing Security Updates Based on Risk (see URL in Notes) guidance and CISA’s “Forensics Triage Requirements” (see URL in Notes). Follow applicable BOD 26-04 guidance for cloud services or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. Stakeholders are responsible for evaluating each asset's internet exposure and ensuring adherence to BOD 26-04 patching guidelines.
- Public exploit code
- None on record in Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei templates or PoC-in-GitHub.
- CISA SSVC
- exploitation active, automatable no, technical impact partialAssessed by CISA 28 Oct 2026 (SSVC 2.0.3). Exploitation is none, poc (public proof of concept) or active.
Timeline
- 30 Jul 2026Published
- 28 Oct 2026Added to CISA KEV (exploited in the wild)89 days (about 3 months) later
- 28 Oct 2026CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation activesame day later
- 29 Oct 2026CVE record last updated1 day later
- 11 Nov 2026CISA remediation due date (US federal agencies)13 days later
- 12 Nov 2026Analysed by vulneraibility.com1 day later
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
| Metric | Value | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Attack vector | NetworkReachable over the internet or any routable network. | Reachable over the internet or any routable network. |
| Attack complexity | LowRepeatable attack, no special conditions. | Repeatable attack, no special conditions. |
| Privileges required | HighThe attacker needs admin-level privileges. | The attacker needs admin-level privileges. |
| User interaction | NoneNo victim action needed. | No victim action needed. |
| Scope | UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component. | Impact stays within the vulnerable component. |
| Confidentiality | NoneNo data disclosure. | No data disclosure. |
| Integrity | LowLimited modification possible. | Limited modification possible. |
| Availability | NoneThe service stays up. | The service stays up. |
Common questions
Is CVE-2026-41709 being exploited?
Yes. CVE-2026-41709 appears in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which means exploitation in the wild has been confirmed and reported. Treat it as active rather than theoretical, and patch it ahead of higher-scoring vulnerabilities that carry no exploitation evidence.
How severe is CVE-2026-41709?
CVE-2026-41709 is rated Low with a CVSS score of 2.7. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.
Is there a patch for CVE-2026-41709?
Yes. A fix has been recorded for CVE-2026-41709. The vendor advisory is the authority on the exact fixed version — apply it from there rather than from a summary.
What does CVE-2026-41709 affect?
CVE-2026-41709 affects vmware:esxi. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.
Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.
References
2 references in the CVE record, grouped by the tags the record gives them.
Other links (2)
- support.broadcom.com /web/ecx/support-content-notification/-/external/content/SecurityAdvisories/0/38
- cisa.gov /known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-41709
Where the data on this page comes from
- CVE List (CVE.org): description, affected versions, references; CVE Terms of Use
- NVD: CVSS and CPE data
- CISA KEV catalog: exploitation, date added, due date
- CISA Vulnrichment (ADP): SSVC decision points
- FIRST EPSS: exploit probability and percentile
Summary, impact and triage tags: written by our AI analysis pipeline from the sources above. Check them against the sources.
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