How can an attacker with vCenter local admin privileges gain access to the VCSA management panel?
The attacker extracts the IdP certificate from `/storage/db/vmware-vmdir/data.mdb`, creates a SAML request for an administrator user, and authenticates against vCenter to obtain a valid JSESSIONID cookie. This cookie grants administrator access to the VCSA management panel, enabling control over virtual machines. For full details, see vSphere Development Guide 6 - vCenter SAML Certificates.
vCenter SAML certificatesdata.mdbVCSA management panelIdP certificateSAML request