CVE-2022-0026 Cortex XDR Agent: Unintended Program Execution Leads to Local Privilege Escalation (PE) Vulnerability
Attack Vector
LOCAL
Scope
UNCHANGED
Attack Complexity
LOW
Confidentiality Impact
HIGH
Privileges Required
HIGH
Integrity Impact
HIGH
User Interaction
NONE
Availability Impact
HIGH
Description
A local privilege escalation (PE) vulnerability exists in Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR agent software on Windows that enables an authenticated local user with file creation privilege in the Windows root directory (such as C:\) to execute a program with elevated privileges.
This issue impacts all versions of Cortex XDR agent without content update 330 or a later content update version.
Product Status
| Versions | Affected | Unaffected |
|---|---|---|
| Cortex XDR Agent 7.5 CE | 7.5.* without CU-330 on Windows | 7.5.* with CU-330 on Windows |
| Cortex XDR Agent 7.7 | 7.7.* without CU-330 on Windows | 7.7.* with CU-330 on Windows |
| Cortex XDR Agent 7.6 | 7.6.* without CU-330 on Windows | 7.6.* with CU-330 on Windows |
| Cortex XDR Agent 7.5 | 7.5.* without CU-330 on Windows | 7.5.* with CU-330 on Windows |
| Cortex XDR Agent 7.4 | 7.4.* without CU-330 on Windows | 7.4.* with CU-330 on Windows |
| Cortex XDR Agent 6.1 | 6.1.* without CU-330 on Windows | 6.1.* with CU-330 on Windows |
Severity: MEDIUM
CVSSv3.1 Base Score: 6.7 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)
Exploitation Status
Palo Alto Networks is not aware of any malicious exploitation of this issue.
Weakness Type
CWE-282 Improper Ownership Management
Solution
This issue is fixed in all Cortex XDR agent versions with content update 330 and later content update versions.
Workarounds and Mitigations
There are no known workarounds for this issue.
Acknowledgments
Palo Alto Networks thanks Xavier DANEST of Decathlon and Yasser Alhazmi for discovering and reporting this issue.
Timeline
Initial publication