Broadcom VMware security update adds on-premises and API defenses
Broadcom has expanded VMware vDefend and Avi Load Balancer for AI-era threats, with on-premises analysis, air-gap support and API protection.
By Colin Brandt · Enterprise Reporter
· 3 min read
Broadcom’s VMware security update adds deployment automation, on-premises malware analysis, air-gapped threat-intelligence handling and API protection to VMware vDefend and VMware Avi Load Balancer for VMware Cloud Foundation. The company is pitching the release as a response to AI-assisted attacks against private-cloud infrastructure; no price or customer deployment results were disclosed.
The additions separate an operational product update from Broadcom’s broader VMware Cloud Foundation and vSphere Foundation 9.1 security push. Broadcom has argued that frontier AI models can combine several lower-severity flaws into a more serious attack path, but the supplied material contains no independent assessment of that risk or of the new features’ effectiveness.
What is in the Broadcom VMware security update?
vDefend gets what Broadcom calls a 1-2-3 workflow for advanced threat prevention. It begins by assessing an environment’s security posture, then applies recommended protections to common shared services, including Active Directory and DNS, before extending those policies to development, production and DMZ environments. Broadcom says this could shorten deployments from months to weeks, a claim that has not been independently validated.
The company is also moving malware sandboxing into customer environments. That is intended to let teams inspect static and dynamic files without transferring them to a public cloud. For disconnected deployments, threat-intelligence updates can be downloaded separately and manually imported. Broadcom says all vDefend functions can now run on-premises, which is relevant for organizations with data-sovereignty, privacy or regulatory constraints.
Avi Load Balancer, meanwhile, adds native API protection for virtual machines, vSphere Kubernetes Service and AI workloads. Broadcom says the feature combines web application firewall and API-protection functions to find exposed interfaces and reduce the need for separate security products. The release also includes AI assistants in both products and automation for migrations from legacy firewalls, according to SiliconANGLE.
These controls fit into an enterprise security program rather than replacing one. Micro-segmentation, malware inspection and API controls address different paths into and across an environment; their outcome depends on policy design, monitoring and incident-response practices.
What do the changes mean for existing VMware customers?
Broadcom’s guidance for in-support vSphere 8.x, VCF/VVF 5.x and VCF/VVF 9.0 deployments is unchanged: patch releases will continue under existing schedules through its security-advisory process. The company recommends upgrading to version 9.1 for enhanced capabilities. It says 9.1 supports upgrades from vSphere 8.x and VVF 5.x, while VVF 9.0 upgrades are in-place.
Version 9.1 is a separate platform release that Broadcom says includes live patching, encrypted vMotion using Intel QAT, compliance tooling, telemetry, endpoint-detection-and-response integration in ESX and a centralized audit trail. Those are platform features, rather than the newly announced vDefend and Avi functions.
Broadcom also published performance figures from internal July testing. It says Distributed Firewall can reach 22 Gbps on servers with 25-Gbps network cards, 75 Gbps on 100-Gbps systems and 75 Tbps at VMware Cloud Foundation-instance scale. The company further claims up to 17 Gbps per server for distributed IDS/IPS, 12.25 Tbps per Avi controller instance, and up to 33% fewer physical servers with a two-node Security Services Platform configuration. No independent benchmarks or customer outcomes were included.
This story draws on original reporting from SiliconANGLE.
