Key Highlights
Product Releases & Updates: Significant updates were released for VMware Aria Operations (8.18.6) and ESXi (8.0 u3i). Additionally, the USB Network Native Driver for ESXi 8.0 Update 3 is now available.
Security Advisories: A major focus is placed on VMSA-2026-0001, which addresses multiple vulnerabilities in Aria Operations (including command injection and privilege escalation). The post emphasizes the importance of applying available patches or workarounds.
Lifecycle Management: Several products, including Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition 1.20 and various Cloud Director extensions, reached their end-of-life/support dates on February 28.
Technical Resources: The post lists numerous new Knowledge Base (KB) articles tackling specific issues, such as VMware Tools installation failures on Windows 11 and vSAN cluster recovery after manual shutdowns.
Community & Learning: It highlights upcoming VMUG Connect events (Amsterdam, Minneapolis, etc.) and features curated content on topics like GPU placement efficiency and log data migration from Aria Logs 8.18 to VCF Ops 9.
Product Releases
| VKS Standard Packages | 3.6.0 | 2/11 | Release Notes | |
| vSphere Kubernetes | 1.35.0 | 02/11 | Release Notes | |
| USB Network Native Driver for ESXi (ESXi 8.0 Update 3) | 8.0 u3 | 02/13 | Download | Blogpost |
| VMware Aria Operations | 8.18.6 | 02/24 | Download | Release Notes |
| VMware ESXi | 8.0 u3i | 02/24 | Download | Release Notes |
Product Lifecycle
| VKr 1.32 | 28.02 |
| VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition 1.20 | 28.02 |
| VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition Management Console 1.20 | 28.02 |
| VMware Cloud Director extension for VMware Data Solutions 1.4 | 28.02 |
| VMware Cloud Director Object Storage Extension 3.0 | 14.03 |
Broadcom Support Portal
Broadcom will be performing maintenance on the Support Portal Search and Chatbot between February 27 – March 7. During this time please expect impacts to this functionality as we update our systems. We apologize for the inconvenience.
VMware Security Advisories
Full Overview
| [VMSA-2026-0001] VMware Aria Operations updates address multiple vulnerabilities CVE-2026-22719, CVE-2026-22720 and CVE-2026-22721 | CVSSv36.2 – 8.1 |
| Multiple vulnerabilities in VMware Aria Operations were privately reported to Broadcom. Updatesand workarounds are available to remediate or workaround these vulnerabilities in affected Broadcom products. – Aria Operations command injection vulnerability (CVE-2026-22719) – Aria Operations stored cross site scripting vulnerability – (CVE-2026-22720)Aria Operations privilege escalation vulnerability (CVE-2026-22721) | |
| Product | Component | Version | CVE | Fixed Version | Workaround |
| VCF VVF | VCF Operations | 9.x.x.x | CVE-2026-22719 CVE-2026-22720 CVE-2026-22721 | 9.0.2.0 Release Notes Download(VCF) Download (VVF) | KB430349 (for *-22719) |
| Aria Ops | 8.x | CVE-2026-22719 CVE-2026-22720 CVE-2026-22721 | 8.18.6 Release Notes Download | KB430349 (for *-22719) | |
| VCF | Aria Operations | 5.x 4.x | CVE-2026-22719 CVE-2026-22720 CVE-2026-22721 | KB92148 | KB430349 (for *-22719) |
| Telco Cloud Platform | Aria Operations | 5.x4.x | CVE-2026-22719 CVE-2026-22720 CVE-2026-22721 | KB428241 | KB430349 (for *-22719) |
| Telco Cloud Infrastructure | Aria Operations | 3.x2.x | CVE-2026-22719 CVE-2026-22720 CVE-2026-22721 | KB428241 | KB430349 (for *-22719) |
KB Articles
Some new and updated KB articles
| Subject | ID |
|---|---|
| Deprecated CPU Systems / Servers in ESX 9.0 and implications for support | 428874 |
| vSAN Cluster fails to come up after manual shutdown using reboot_helper.py script | 430304 |
| VMware tools fails to fully install on Windows 11 | 430294 |
| You don’t need to restart services from cli when installing NSX VIP certs from SDDC manager | 430284 |
| When VMs are migrated between clusters, CPU, memory, and max instances are updated but not storage | 430246 |
| Change the Default Storage Policy for vSAN Datastores | 430243 |
| After rebooting or updating ESXi, the host loses network connection | 430228 |
| Unable to select vCenter Server while deploying VMware Identity Broker in VCF Operations 9.x | 430220 |
| Deploying OVF from URL fail in VMware Aria Automation | 430195 |
| Unable to Renew License in VCF Operations 9.x After Importing Usage File | 430157 |
| Windows VM restarts unexpectedly | 430088 |
| FAQs: Credential security scans (via SSH), which metrics/KPIs should be monitored during such scans? | 430021 |
| FAQ: Spikes in the CPU|Demand|Workload (%) in Aria Operations. | 430006 |
| Online Depot configuration fails in VCF Fleet Management due to short name | 429985 |
| Expired Admin Password Changes via VM Console Are Not Saved | 429930 |
| vSphere Supervisor restore operation is stuck at 25% | 429913 |
| Windows Guest OS reports incorrect CPU clock speed after vMotion | 429912 |
| Unable to login to ESXi host | 429884 |
| ESX host Unable to connect to Dell Unity Storage Interfaces | 429881 |
| Checking Virtual Machine and VMkernel uplinks using esxtop | 429824 |
| Windows Guest OS console displays a black screen or RDP fails after upgrading VMware Tools | 429790 |
| Virtual hard disk in Guest-OS is in not-initialized and unallocated state with event-id 153 | 429742 |
| Required to assign a new license part of different Site ID in VCF Operations 9.0.x | 429748 |
| When attempting to launch the Open Web Console or Open Remote Console for a Virtual Machine (VM) within the Virtual Machine Service UI, the connection fails or the URL does not resolve. | 429688 |
| One or more clocks in a vIDM cluster show a warning in the System Diagnostics Dashboard | 429574 |
OnSite Events
Incl. VMUG User/cons
| VMUG Connect – Amsterdam | March 17-19 | |
| VMUG Connect – Minneapolis | April 07-09 | |
| VMUG Connect – Toronto | May 12-14 | |
| VMUG Connect – Dallas | June 09-11 | |
| VMUG Connect – Orlando | October 20-22 | |
| Explore Las Vegas 2026 (Save the date) | week of August 31 | |
| Local VMUG Events Overview | ||
TAM Lab | Podcast | Webinar | Blog Posts
Podcasts , Blogs and Webinars published last week
Blogpost
| How Same Size VGPU Mode and Right-Sizing Shape GPU Placement Efficiency frankdenneman.nl | Blogpost |
| In the previous article, we looked at how GPUs are placed within an ESXi host and how GPU modes and assignment policies determine which physical GPU a workload uses. These decisions impact more than just the initial placement of workloads. They also shape how GPU capacity changes over time, affecting fragmentation, consolidation, and how easily new workloads can be scheduled. In this article, we will look at workloads that use fractional GPU profiles and how their sizing choices impact overall platform efficiency. | |
| Closing the Talent Gap in IT with VMware Data Services Manager VMware Data Services Manager | Blogpost |
| The “talent gap” in IT is no longer just a headline—it is a daily operational reality. For senior management, the challenge is clear: enterprise database estates are exploding, often reaching hundreds or even thousands of instances. Yet, there is a critical shortage of skilled database administrators (DBAs) to manage them. These specialists are expensive, difficult to retain, and frequently bogged down by routine manual tasks rather than strategic initiatives. | |
| Log Data Transfer from Aria Ops for Logs 8.18 to VCF Ops for Logs 9 thomas-kopton.de | Blogpost |
| With the release of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9, Logs is now more integrated into Operations. Moving from Aria Operations for Logs 8.18.x to VCF 9 does not support a direct, in-place upgrade, instead, administrators must perform a fresh deployment of the 9.0 appliance. This deployment shift creates an immediate challenge: how do you maintain your audit trails and troubleshooting history without keeping the legacy appliance running forever? | |
Podcast
| Introducing VMware vDefend featuring Chris McCain! Unexplored Territory #112 | Podcast |
| A few episodes ago Yves Hertoghs was on the show to discuss networking, so @Duncan Epping decided, it was also time to discuss security. As @Chris McCain has been at the forefront of networking and #security at #VMware for over a decade, it only made sense to reach out and invite him to introduce #vDefend! | |
Webinar
| Architect’s Edge Live: Modern Containers — Real Workloads. Real Numbers. VKS vs OpenShift — Beyond the Myths VMware Cloud Foundation | Webinar02/26/26 |
| The Power of Showing Up: How IT Events Shape Careers VMUG | Webinar03/02/26 |
| Join Maarten Van Driessen, Leader of the VMUG Belgium Chapter, and Brad Tompkins, VMUG Executive Director, for an inspiring conversation about the transformational impact of showing up to live IT events. Together, they’ll share the real moments—big and small—that shaped their careers: the unexpected hallway conversations, the community connections that opened new doors, and the personal milestones that only happen when you’re in the room. You’ll learn practical strategies for getting the most value from in‑person events, including how to approach networking, maximize session time, and create meaningful professional relationships that last far beyond conference week. | |
| Beyond vSAN: Optimizing VCF with External Storage | Everpure VMUG | Webinar03/05/26 |
| VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) provides a powerful, standardized platform for modern SDDCs—but many VMware administrators are left navigating new deployment models, storage choices, and operational tradeoffs. With VCF 9 expanding support for external storage, understanding how to design and operate VCF beyond vSAN is now a critical skill. In this session, we’ll take a technical, administrator-focused look at running VMware Cloud Foundation with Pure Storage FlashArray. We will move past the basics to explore how VCF fleets, instances, and workload domains consume principal and supplemental storage via Fibre Channel and NFS. | |