What is the main exploitation technique described in the vSphere Development Guide 6 article?
The technique involves using administrator privileges on vCenter to extract the Identity Provider (IdP) certificate from the /storage/db/vmware-vmdir/data.mdb database file, then creating a SAML request for an administrator user and authenticating against the vCenter server to obtain a valid administrator JSESSIONID cookie, which grants access to the VCSA management panel.
---
**Related reading:**
- vSphere Development Guide 6 - vCenter SAML Certificates — original article
- Penetration Techniques - Deleting Single Windows Log Entries
- Penetration Technique: Remote Access to Exchange PowerShell
- Zimbra SOAP API Development Guide 2
---
**Related reading:**
- vSphere Development Guide 6 - vCenter SAML Certificates — original article
- Penetration Techniques - Deleting Single Windows Log Entries
- Penetration Technique: Remote Access to Exchange PowerShell
- Zimbra SOAP API Development Guide 2
vCenterSAMLIdP certificatedata.mdbJSESSIONIDVCSA management panel