Shares of chipmaker Broadcom (AVGO) are down on Friday after reports confirmed that a serious VMware vCenter security flaw is being actively exploited. According to BleepingComputer, security researchers identified compromised systems tied to 361 IP addresses across 47 countries, just days after Broadcom disclosed the issue and issued an emergency patch.

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The flaw, called CVE-2026-59310, was disclosed on July 29 and affects VMware vCenter's Syslog Server and was described as a critical directory traversal vulnerability. In practical terms, this means that an attacker who is not even logged in could potentially access restricted parts of the system and run malicious code if they are connected to the network.

The risk is significant because VMware vCenter acts as a central control hub for a company's entire VMware environment. Through it, businesses manage virtual machines and user permissions. Therefore, if an attacker gains access to vCenter, they may effectively gain a powerful entry point into a company's internal IT systems.

Situation Escalated Despite Emergency Patch

Unsurprisingly, Broadcom quickly released an emergency patch. However, even though the fix was made available, the situation escalated shortly after. In fact, according to digital forensics firm Quirso, attackers began actively targeting vulnerable systems just days later. Specifically, compromised systems were first seen connecting to attacker-controlled infrastructure on August 3, which was only five days after Broadcom publicly disclosed the flaw.

From there, the scale of the attacks grew quickly, and by August 7, Quirso had identified 361 affected IP addresses. In addition, the attacks spread around the world, as more than half of the compromised systems were located in Germany and the United States, while a significant number were also found in Turkey, Iran, and France.

Meanwhile, hackers are using the vulnerability to install a reverse SSH tool. This allows them to maintain ongoing and hidden access to infected systems, even after the initial breach has occurred.

Is AVGO Stock a Good Buy?

Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on AVGO stock based on 23 Buys, four Holds, and zero Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average AVGO price target of $512.87 per share implies 31.8% upside potential. (See AVGO Stock Forecast).