Exploited CVEs / VMware / CVE-2020-3992
CVE-2020-3992
VMware ESXi OpenSLP Use-After-Free Vulnerability. Exploitation in the wild is confirmed by CISA, not predicted, and the vulnerability is known to be used in ransomware campaigns. Federal agencies were required to remediate by 2022-05-03 (that deadline has passed); treat that date as the outer bound for your own environment. The fix is in the vendor advisory: Broadcom (VMware) Security Advisories, linked below.
Actively exploited VMware ESXi vulnerability, Critical severity, CVSS 9.8. Added to the CISA KEV catalog 2021-11-03.
Risk summary
Updated July 28, 2026. Data refreshed on every build from MSRC, CISA KEV, and FIRST EPSS.
Senserva AI Opinion for CVE-2020-3992
VMware ESXi's OpenSLP service contains a use-after-free reachable by an attacker on the management network with access to port 427, yielding remote code execution on the hypervisor, and it is confirmed used in ransomware campaigns. Ransomware crews prize ESXi bugs because encrypting the hypervisor takes down every VM at once. An 83 percent EPSS score plus ransomware linkage puts this at the top of any virtualization patch queue.
Do this: Disable the SLP service on ESXi hosts where unused, patch them, and restrict port 427 to management hosts only.
AI-generated from public data, 2026-07-07. Verify against the vendor advisory before acting.
Senserva AI Opinion and rich prompt for CVE-2020-3992
Copy this prompt into Claude, ChatGPT, or Copilot. The facts are included, sourced from this page.
Full tracking and change history for CVE-2020-3992
Published and last-revised dates are authoritative, from Microsoft MSRC (or the CISA KEV date-added). Senserva additionally records day-to-day changes from 2026-07-07, refreshed several times a day; the change count reflects that forward-only tracking.
CISA required action
Federal (BOD 22-01) remediation due date: 2022-05-03 (past due).
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Official fix for CVE-2020-3992
The authoritative fix and affected-version list are published by the vendor. Find the ESXi advisory on Broadcom (VMware) Security Advisories.
Common questions about CVE-2020-3992
Is CVE-2020-3992 actively exploited?
Yes. CVE-2020-3992 was added to the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 2021-11-03, which means exploitation in the wild has been confirmed, not predicted. Its EPSS 30-day exploitation probability is 83%. CISA also reports it is known to be used in ransomware campaigns.
What is the CISA deadline and required action for CVE-2020-3992?
CISA set the federal (BOD 22-01) remediation due date at 2022-05-03, which has passed; treat any unremediated system as overdue. The verbatim required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.
What fixes CVE-2020-3992?
The authoritative fix is in the vendor advisory: see Broadcom (VMware) Security Advisories for the patched ESXi versions and any workarounds. KEV listing makes this a fix-first item: patch it ahead of higher-CVSS issues nobody is exploiting.
Can I ask my own AI about CVE-2020-3992?
Yes. This page includes a free, ready-to-paste AI prompt containing CVE-2020-3992's key facts: severity, CVSS, EPSS, the KEV date, the CISA due date, and the required action. Copy it into Claude, ChatGPT, or Copilot; the data is refreshed twice a day (5 AM and 3 PM US Central).
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