CVE-2020-2016

PAN-OS: Temporary file race condition vulnerability in PAN-OS leads to local privilege escalation

Description

A race condition due to insecure creation of a file in a temporary directory vulnerability in PAN-OS allows for root privilege escalation from a limited linux user account. This allows an attacker who has escaped the restricted shell as a low privilege administrator, possibly by exploiting another vulnerability, to escalate privileges to become root user. This issue affects: PAN-OS 7.1 versions earlier than 7.1.26; PAN-OS 8.1 versions earlier than 8.1.13; PAN-OS 9.0 versions earlier than 9.0.6; All versions of PAN-OS 8.0.

Remediation

Solution:

  • This issue is fixed in PAN-OS 7.1.26, PAN-OS 8.1.13, PAN-OS 9.0.6, PAN-OS 9.1.0, and all later PAN-OS versions. PAN-OS 8.0 is now end-of-life as of October 31, 2019, and is no longer covered by our Product Security Assurance policies.

Workaround:

  • This issue affects the management interface of PAN-OS and is strongly mitigated by following best practices for securing the PAN-OS management interface. Please review the Best Practices for Securing Administrative Access in the PAN-OS technical documentation, available at: https://docs.paloaltonetworks.com.

Categories

7.0
CVSS
Severity: High
CVSS 3.1 •
CVSS 2.0 •
EPSS 0.21%
Vendor Advisory paloaltonetworks.com
Affected: Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS
Published at:
Updated at:

References

Link Tags
https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/CVE-2020-2016 vendor advisory

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the severity of CVE-2020-2016?
CVE-2020-2016 has been scored as a high severity vulnerability.
How to fix CVE-2020-2016?
To fix CVE-2020-2016: This issue is fixed in PAN-OS 7.1.26, PAN-OS 8.1.13, PAN-OS 9.0.6, PAN-OS 9.1.0, and all later PAN-OS versions. PAN-OS 8.0 is now end-of-life as of October 31, 2019, and is no longer covered by our Product Security Assurance policies.
Is CVE-2020-2016 being actively exploited in the wild?
As for now, there are no information to confirm that CVE-2020-2016 is being actively exploited. According to its EPSS score, there is a ~0% probability that this vulnerability will be exploited by malicious actors in the next 30 days.
What software or system is affected by CVE-2020-2016?
CVE-2020-2016 affects Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS.
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