ESXi 7.0 Update 3g | SEP 01 2022 | 20328353

Check for additions and updates to these release notes.

What's in the Release Notes

The release notes cover the following topics:

IMPORTANT: If your source system contains hosts of versions between ESXi 7.0 Update 2 and Update 3c, and Intel drivers, before upgrading to ESXi 7.0 Update 3g, see the What's New section of the VMware vCenter Server 7.0 Update 3c Release Notes, because all content in the section is also applicable for vSphere 7.0 Update 3g. Also, see the related VMware knowledge base articles: 86447, 87258, and 87308

What's New

  • This release resolves issues documented in the Resolved Issues section.

Earlier Releases of ESXi 7.0

New features, resolved, and known issues of ESXi are described in the release notes for each release. Release notes for earlier releases of ESXi 7.0 are:

For internationalization, compatibility, and open source components, see the VMware vSphere 7.0 Release Notes.

Patches Contained in This Release

This release of ESXi 7.0 Update 3g delivers the following patches:

Build Details

Download Filename: VMware-ESXi-7.0U3g-20328353-depot.zip
Build: 20328353
Download Size: 381.5 MB
md5sum: 8aa11dbbc5b2089d443437eaa3837e79
sha256checksum: 1a867dc75503304a34a0d8bf560c1a32e2edae321ad7d70f83ad0505fc27f6b4
Host Reboot Required: Yes
Virtual Machine Migration or Shutdown Required: Yes

Components

Component Bulletin Category Severity
ESXi Component - core ESXi VIBs ESXi_7.0.3-0.55.20328353 Bugfix Critical
ESXi Install/Upgrade Component esx-update_7.0.3-0.55.20328353 Bugfix Critical

IMPORTANT:

  • Starting with vSphere 7.0, VMware uses components for packaging VIBs along with bulletins. The ESXi and esx-update bulletins are dependent on each other. Always include both in a single ESXi host patch baseline or include the rollup bulletin in the baseline to avoid failure during host patching. 
  • When patching ESXi hosts by using VMware Update Manager from a version prior to ESXi 7.0 Update 2, it is strongly recommended to use the rollup bulletin in the patch baseline. If you cannot use the rollup bulletin, be sure to include all of the following packages in the patching baseline. If the following packages are not included in the baseline, the update operation fails:
    • VMware-vmkusb_0.1-1vmw.701.0.0.16850804 or higher
    • VMware-vmkata_0.1-1vmw.701.0.0.16850804 or higher
    • VMware-vmkfcoe_1.0.0.2-1vmw.701.0.0.16850804 or higher
    • VMware-NVMeoF-RDMA_1.0.1.2-1vmw.701.0.0.16850804 or higher

Rollup Bulletin

This rollup bulletin contains the latest VIBs with all the fixes after the initial release of ESXi 7.0.

Bulletin ID Category Severity
ESXi70U3g-20328353 Bugfix Critical

Image Profiles

VMware patch and update releases contain general and critical image profiles. Application of the general release image profile applies to new bug fixes.

Image Profile Name
ESXi-7.0U3g-20328353-standard
ESXi-7.0U3g-20328353-no-tools

ESXi Image

Name and Version Release Date Category Detail
ESXi70U3g-20328353 SEP 01 2022 Bugfix Bugfix image

For information about the individual components and bulletins, see the Product Patches page and the Resolved Issues section.

Patch Download and Installation

In vSphere 7.x, the Update Manager plug-in, used for administering vSphere Update Manager, is replaced with the Lifecycle Manager plug-in. Administrative operations for vSphere Update Manager are still available under the Lifecycle Manager plug-in, along with new capabilities for vSphere Lifecycle Manager.
The typical way to apply patches to ESXi 7.x hosts is by using the vSphere Lifecycle Manager. For details, see About vSphere Lifecycle Manager and vSphere Lifecycle Manager Baselines and Images.
You can also update ESXi hosts without using the Lifecycle Manager plug-in, and use an image profile instead. To do this, you must manually download the patch offline bundle ZIP file from VMware Customer Connect. From the Select a Product drop-down menu, select ESXi (Embedded and Installable) and from the Select a Version drop-down menu, select 7.0. For more information, see the Upgrading Hosts by Using ESXCLI Commands and the VMware ESXi Upgrade guide.

Resolved Issues

The resolved issues are grouped as follows.

ESXi_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
Patch Category Bugfix
Patch Severity Critical
Host Reboot Required Yes
Virtual Machine Migration or Shutdown Required Yes
Affected Hardware N/A
Affected Software N/A
VIBs Included
  • VMware_bootbank_esx-base_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
  • VMware_bootbank_esx-xserver_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
  • VMware_bootbank_trx_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
  • VMware_bootbank_vdfs_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
  • VMware_bootbank_bmcal_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
  • VMware_bootbank_esx-dvfilter-generic-fastpath_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
  • VMware_bootbank_vsan_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
  • VMware_bootbank_crx_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
  • VMware_bootbank_gc_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
  • VMware_bootbank_esxio-combiner_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
  • VMware_bootbank_cpu-microcode_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
  • VMware_bootbank_native-misc-drivers_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
  • VMware_bootbank_vsanhealth_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
PRs Fixed 3003171, 3023438
CVE numbers N/A

The ESXi and esx-update bulletins are dependent on each other. Always include both in a single ESXi host patch baseline or include the rollup bulletin in the baseline to avoid failure during host patching.

Updates the esx-base, esx-xserver, trx, vdfs, bmcal, esx-dvfilter-generic-fastpath, vsan, gc, esxio-combiner, cpu-microcode, native-misc-drivers, vsanhealth and crx VIBs to resolve the following issue:

  • PR 3003171: ESXi hosts might fail with purple diagnostic screen due to rare memory fragmentation issue

    In rare cases, memory fragmentation caused by high host memory usage might lead to a delay in network device driver memory allocation requests. As a result, delayed memory allocation requests cause a heartbeat alert that might lead to ESXi host failure with a purple diagnostic screen. The purple screen backtrace contains entries similar to:

    2021-11-12T00:12:38.785Z cpu2:267947)Panic: 547: Panic from another CPU (cpu 2, world 267947): ip=0x420013cf7434 randomOff=0x13c00000:
    2021-11-12T00:12:38.826Z cpu0:400001)Saved backtrace from: pcpu 2 Heartbeat NMI
    2021-11-12T00:12:38.847Z cpu0:400001)0x45388951b990:[0x420013d42528]FastSlabAllocPages@vmkernel#nover+0xf9 stack: 0x420013d424f0
    2021-11-12T00:12:38.853Z cpu0:400001)0x45388951bc20:[0x420013d429a8]FastSlabCreateNewBuffer@vmkernel#nover+0xe9 stack: 0x45388951bce0

    This issue is resolved in this release.

  • PR 3023438: PLOG data buildup causes high congestion and long latencies on VM I/Os

    In some cases the vSAN LSOM Elevator malfunctions, and stops the destage of data from the cache tier to the capacity tier. This problem can lead to a build up of data in the cache tier, which causes congestion and long latencies for VM I/O operations.

    This issue is resolved in this release.

esx-update_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
Patch Category Bugfix
Patch Severity Critical
Host Reboot Required Yes
Virtual Machine Migration or Shutdown Required Yes
Affected Hardware N/A
Affected Software N/A
VIBs Included
  • VMware_bootbank_loadesx_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
  • VMware_bootbank_esx-update_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
PRs Fixed N/A
CVE numbers N/A

Updates the loadesx and esx-update VIBs.

    ESXi-7.0U3g-20328353-standard
    Profile Name ESXi-7.0U3g-20328353-standard
    Build For build information, see Patches Contained in this Release.
    Vendor VMware, Inc.
    Release Date September 1, 2022
    Acceptance Level PartnerSupported
    Affected Hardware N/A
    Affected Software N/A
    Affected VIBs
    • VMware_bootbank_esx-base_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_esx-xserver_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_trx_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_vdfs_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_bmcal_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_esx-dvfilter-generic-fastpath_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_vsan_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_crx_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_gc_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_esxio-combiner_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_cpu-microcode_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_native-misc-drivers_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_vsanhealth_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_loadesx_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_esx-update_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    PRs Fixed 3003171, 3023438
    Related CVE numbers N/A
    • This patch updates the following issues:
      • In rare cases, memory fragmentation caused by high host memory usage might lead to a delay in network device driver memory allocation requests. As a result, delayed memory allocation requests cause a heartbeat alert that might lead to ESXi host failure with a purple diagnostic screen. The purple screen backtrace contains entries similar to:

        2021-11-12T00:12:38.785Z cpu2:267947)Panic: 547: Panic from another CPU (cpu 2, world 267947): ip=0x420013cf7434 randomOff=0x13c00000:
        2021-11-12T00:12:38.826Z cpu0:400001)Saved backtrace from: pcpu 2 Heartbeat NMI
        2021-11-12T00:12:38.847Z cpu0:400001)0x45388951b990:[0x420013d42528]FastSlabAllocPages@vmkernel#nover+0xf9 stack: 0x420013d424f0
        2021-11-12T00:12:38.853Z cpu0:400001)0x45388951bc20:[0x420013d429a8]FastSlabCreateNewBuffer@vmkernel#nover+0xe9 stack: 0x45388951bce0

      • In some cases the vSAN LSOM Elevator malfunctions, and stops the destage of data from the cache tier to the capacity tier. This problem can lead to a build up of data in the cache tier, which causes congestion and long latencies for VM I/O operations.

    ESXi-7.0U3g-20328353-no-tools
    Profile Name ESXi-7.0U3g-20328353-no-tools
    Build For build information, see Patches Contained in this Release.
    Vendor VMware, Inc.
    Release Date September 1, 2022
    Acceptance Level PartnerSupported
    Affected Hardware N/A
    Affected Software N/A
    Affected VIBs
    • VMware_bootbank_esx-base_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_esx-xserver_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_trx_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_vdfs_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_bmcal_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_esx-dvfilter-generic-fastpath_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_vsan_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_crx_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_gc_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_esxio-combiner_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_cpu-microcode_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_native-misc-drivers_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_vsanhealth_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_loadesx_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    • VMware_bootbank_esx-update_7.0.3-0.55.20328353
    PRs Fixed 3003171, 3023438
    Related CVE numbers N/A
    • This patch updates the following issues:
      • In rare cases, memory fragmentation caused by high host memory usage might lead to a delay in network device driver memory allocation requests. As a result, delayed memory allocation requests cause a heartbeat alert that might lead to ESXi host failure with a purple diagnostic screen. The purple screen backtrace contains entries similar to:

        2021-11-12T00:12:38.785Z cpu2:267947)Panic: 547: Panic from another CPU (cpu 2, world 267947): ip=0x420013cf7434 randomOff=0x13c00000:
        2021-11-12T00:12:38.826Z cpu0:400001)Saved backtrace from: pcpu 2 Heartbeat NMI
        2021-11-12T00:12:38.847Z cpu0:400001)0x45388951b990:[0x420013d42528]FastSlabAllocPages@vmkernel#nover+0xf9 stack: 0x420013d424f0
        2021-11-12T00:12:38.853Z cpu0:400001)0x45388951bc20:[0x420013d429a8]FastSlabCreateNewBuffer@vmkernel#nover+0xe9 stack: 0x45388951bce0

      • In some cases the vSAN LSOM Elevator malfunctions, and stops the destage of data from the cache tier to the capacity tier. This problem can lead to a build up of data in the cache tier, which causes congestion and long latencies for VM I/O operations.

    ESXi70U3g-20328353
    Name ESXi
    Version ESXi70U3g-20328353
    Release Date September 1, 2022
    Category Bugfix
    Affected Components​
    • ESXi Component - core ESXi VIBs
    • ESXi Install/Upgrade Component
    PRs Fixed  3003171, 3023438
    Related CVE numbers N/A

      Known Issues from Previous Releases

      To view a list of previous known issues, click here.

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