Palo Alto Firewall Vulnerabilities Overview
This threat report provides actionable intelligence about a series of vulnerabilities ranging in criticality affecting the Palo Alto firewall software suite. The vulnerabilities have been assigned the following CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) varies: CVE-2020-2036, CVE-2020-2037, CVE-2020-2038, CVE-2020-2039, CVE-2020-2040, CVE-2020-2041, CVE-2020-2042, CVE-2020-2043, and CVE-2020-2044.
The risk associated with these Palo Alto firewall vulnerabilities varies. These weaknesses either affect the web interface management, Captive Portal or Multi-Factor Authentication interface, or the management interface.
Related Reading: Palo Alto PAN-OS Vulnerability with CVSS Score of 10 Issued
Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures
The most critical of the vulnerabilities is CVE-2020-2040 which may allow an unauthenticated attacker the opportunity to derail system processes and execute code using the root account. Successful exploitation is achieved by sending a specially crafted request to the assigned interface for the Captive Portal or for Multi-Factor Authentication. CVE-2020-2040 affects any Palo Alto firewall running any version of PAN-OS 8.0.
The vulnerability does not affect the GlobalProtect VPN or the PAN-OS management web interfaces.
Related Reading: Critical Palo Alto Firewall Vulnerabilities Identified
Below is a list of the vulnerabilities and a short description of them:
What This Means to You
- May lead to the successful compromise of a key infrastructure component.
- Could allow for lateral movement opportunities for a bad actor.
- May result in unwanted firewall changes.
What You Can Do
It is highly encouraged that you update to the latest version of PAN-OS to avoid successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities.
Sources and Other Helpful Information
MITRE Mapping(s)
- https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1498/
- https://capec.mitre.org/data/definitions/88.html
- https://capec.mitre.org/data/definitions/591.html
- https://capec.mitre.org/data/definitions/100.html
Additional Resources
- https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/?severity=CRITICAL&severity=HIGH&severity=MEDIUM&product=PAN-OS&sort=-date
- https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/CVE-2020-2036
- https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/CVE-2020-2037
- https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/CVE-2020-2038
- https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/CVE-2020-2039
- https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/CVE-2020-2040
- https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/CVE-2020-2041
- https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/CVE-2020-2042
- https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/CVE-2020-2043
- https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/CVE-2020-2044
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Note: The Avertium Threat Report analyzes one current threat that has been shared by threat intelligence networks across the globe. Used internally by the Avertium CyberOps Team, this report will outline a “top-of-mind” threat and how it ought to be addressed accordingly.
This informed analysis is based on the latest data available.