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CVE-2020-2016

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

High7.0EPSS 0.57%
Published
Updated
Reserved
Assigned by
palo_alto

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.

Scores

CVSS scores of CVE-2020-2016, by who scored it
Scored byCVSSScoreVector
palo_altoCNA (assigner)3.1High7.0CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVDNVD · Modified3.1High7.0CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
0.57% · top 53% of all CVEs (2 Nov 2026)

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The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.0.

Weakness

Affected products

  • Palo Alto Networks · PAN-OS

    • affected 8.0.*
    • affected 7.1 – < 7.1.26
    • affected 8.1 – < 8.1.13
    • affected 9.0 – < 9.0.6
    • unaffected 9.1.0 – < 9.1*

What to do

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.

Exploitation: Palo Alto Networks is not aware of any exploitation of this issue.

References (1)

Sources

The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.

Record last updated .