Palo Alto Networks Security Advisories / CVE-2025-0111

CVE-2025-0111 PAN-OS: Authenticated File Read Vulnerability in the Management Web Interface

Description

An authenticated file read vulnerability in the Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS software enables an authenticated attacker with network access to the management web interface to read files on the PAN-OS filesystem that are readable by the “nobody” user.

You can greatly reduce the risk of this issue by restricting access to the management web interface to only trusted internal IP addresses according to our recommended best practices deployment guidelines.

This issue does not affect Cloud NGFW or Prisma Access software.

Product Status

Versions	Affected	Unaffected
Cloud NGFW	None	All
PAN-OS 11.2	< 11.2.4-h4	>= 11.2.4-h4
PAN-OS 11.1	< 11.1.6-h1	>= 11.1.6-h1
PAN-OS 10.2	< 10.2.13-h3	>= 10.2.13-h3
PAN-OS 10.1	< 10.1.14-h9	>= 10.1.14-h9
Prisma Access	None	All

Required Configuration for Exposure

The risk is greatest if you enabled access to the management interface from the internet or any untrusted network either:

1. Directly; or
2. Through a dataplane interface that includes a management interface profile.

You greatly reduce the risk if you ensure that you allow only trusted internal IP addresses to access the management interface.

Use the following steps to identify your recently detected devices in our internet scans.

1. To find any assets that require remediation action, visit the Assets section of the Customer Support Portal at https://support.paloaltonetworks.com (Products → Assets → All Assets → Remediation Required).
2. Review the list of your devices that we discovered in our scans to have an internet-facing management interface and that we tagged with ‘PAN-SA-2024-0015’ and a last seen timestamp (in UTC). If you do not see any such devices listed, then our scan did not find any devices on your account to have an internet-facing management interface within the past three days.

GlobalProtect portals and gateways are not vulnerable to this issue. However, if you configure a management profile on interfaces with GlobalProtect portals or gateways, then you expose the device to attacks through the management web interface (typically accessible on port 4443).

Severity: MEDIUM, Suggested Urgency: MODERATE

The risk is highest when you allow access to the management interface from external IP addresses on the internet.
CVSS-BT: 4.9 / CVSS-B: 7.1 (CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/AU:N/R:U/V:C/RE:M/U:Amber)

You can greatly reduce the risk of exploitation by restricting access to a jump box that is the only system allowed to access the management interface. This will ensure that attacks can succeed only if they obtain privileged access through those specified IP addresses.
CVSS-BT: 2.0 / CVSS-B: 5.9 (CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/AU:N/R:U/V:C/RE:M/U:Amber)

Exploitation Status

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

Weakness Type and Impact

CWE-73: External Control of File Name or Path

CAPEC-165 File Manipulation

Solution

Version	Minor Version	Suggested Solution
PAN-OS 10.1	10.1.0 through 10.1.14	Upgrade to 10.1.14-h9 or later
PAN-OS 10.2	10.2.0 through 10.2.13	Upgrade to 10.2.13-h3 or later
PAN-OS 11.0 (EoL)		Upgrade to a supported fixed version
PAN-OS 11.1	11.1.0 through 11.1.6	Upgrade to 11.1.6-h1 or later
PAN-OS 11.2	11.2.0 through 11.2.4	Upgrade to 11.2.4-h4 or later

Note: PAN-OS 11.0 reached end of life (EoL) on November 17, 2024. No additional fixes are planned for this release.

Workarounds and Mitigations

Recommended mitigation—The vast majority of firewalls already follow Palo Alto Networks and industry best practices. However, if you have not already, we strongly recommend that you secure access to your management interface according to our best practices deployment guidelines. Specifically, you should restrict management interface access to only trusted internal IP addresses.

Review information about how to secure management access to your Palo Alto Networks firewalls:

• Palo Alto Networks LIVEcommunity article:https://live.paloaltonetworks.com/t5/community-blogs/tips-amp-tricks-how-to-secure-the-management-access-of-your-palo/ba-p/464431
• Palo Alto Networks official and detailed technical documentation:https://docs.paloaltonetworks.com/best-practices/10-1/administrative-access-best-practices/administrative-access-best-practices/deploy-administrative-access-best-practices

Additionally, customers with a Threat Prevention subscription can block attacks for this vulnerability by enabling Threat ID 510000 and 510001 (introduced in Applications and Threats content version 8943).

Acknowledgments

CPEs

Timeline