Palo Alto Networks · PAN-OS · Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS Management Interface Authentication Bypass Vulnerability
Verdict
Patch first · actively exploited, reachable from the internet without credentials, and in the top 1% of CVEs by near-term exploitation probability
Added to CISA KEV 2024-11-18 · exploited in the wild for 678 days · used in ransomware campaigns
CVSS 9.3 CRITICAL. The score is a summary; these three components are the part that decides whether something scanning the internet can use it.
| Attack vector | networkreachable over the network, with no local access needed |
|---|---|
| Privileges required | noneneeds no credentials at all |
| User interaction | nonecan be triggered with nobody interacting with the page or request |
| Base vector | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:L/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:N/R:U/V:C/RE:H/U:Red |
| Weakness | CWE-306 |
This describes the vulnerability. It says nothing about whether your systems run it.
EPSS puts the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.9985, which places it in the top 1% of all tracked CVEs. The percentile is the more useful half: 0.18 in absolute terms sounds low until you know most of the internet-facing software in the world scores under that.
| EPSS probability | 0.9985 |
|---|---|
| Percentile | 1.000 — top 1% |
| Added to KEV | 2024-11-18 |
|---|---|
| Days exploited | 678 |
| Federal remediation due | not set |
| Ransomware use | known to be used in ransomware campaigns |
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. Additionally, management interface for affected devices should not be exposed to untrusted networks, including the internet.
An authentication bypass in Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS software enables an unauthenticated attacker with network access to the management web interface to gain PAN-OS administrator privileges to perform administrative actions, tamper with the configuration, or exploit other authenticated privilege escalation vulnerabilities like CVE-2024-9474 https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/CVE-2024-9474 . The risk of this issue is greatly reduced if you secure access to the management web interface by restricting access to only trusted internal IP addresses according to our recommended best practice deployment guidelines https://live.paloaltonetworks.com/t5/community-blogs/tips-amp-tricks-how-to-secure-the-management-access-of-your-palo/ba-p/464431 . This issue is applicable only to PAN-OS 10.2, PAN-OS 11.0, PAN-OS 11.1, and PAN-OS 11.2 software. Cloud NGFW and Prisma Access are not impacted by this vulnerability.