VMware tools on VM superior to those from ESXi

[DeividDAVE]

Dear all,

Thanks a lot in advanced for any help or comment on this post.

I have an environment with ESXi 6.5 U2 EP14 (13635690), in which the tools version installed via vCenter is 10341. I know it's not fully upgraded all the way up to 6.5 U3 P04 (15256549), but I can not do this until our NetBackup systems are upgraded, due to compatibility matrix. Unfortunately, this upgrade may still take a while to be performed.

But we have some new vulnerabilities detected by Qualys, and we need to resolve them asap. One of this vulnerabilities is CVE-2020-3941, resolved in VMware Knowledge Base . This KB states that it is recommended to upgrade VMware Tools to 11.0.0 or later. If not possible, a workaround is proposed.

The point is... I have installed 11.0.0 tools in a win test VM, and it worked. vCenter detected tools version (11264), and the virtual machine seems to be ok. I have tried creating a quiesced snapshot, and it worked, and HA/DRS is also working on the VM.

The question: is it ok to install tools over the version recommended by vCenter? I have found a compatibility matrix, but 6.5 is not showed there: VMware Product Interoperability Matrices

Thanks!

Kind regards,

David

[berndweyand]

we had updated our vms on a 6.5u3-cluster with tools v11.0 without any problems.

btw: the tools are offered from the host the vm is residing on - not from vcenter

[scott28tt]

Moderator: Thread moved to the vSphere area.

[DeividDAVE]

The thing is that Im still on 6.5U2, with no possibility to upgrade to version 6.5U3, thats way i still got version 10.

[berndweyand · Accepted solution]

the operability matrix says its compatible (version 11.0.6 also)

[JOSE_FERREIRO]

All versions of 11.0.0 forward are supported.

[DeividDAVE]

Thanks to everybody!