VMware vSphere is the enterprise virtualization benchmark: ESXi hosts run the VMs, and vCenter manages fleets of them. Offensively they are different targets. ESXi is a hardened appliance reached through its shell and API, with guest-to-host escapes in its device emulation. vCenter is a web and API appliance whose SSO and management flaws grant control of every host it manages. The Workstation and Fusion desktop products share much of ESXi's device-emulation code.
Subtopics#
- ESXi: the hypervisor host.
- vCenter: the management plane.
- Workstation and Fusion: the desktop hypervisors.