CVE-2025-4228 Cortex XDR Broker VM: Privilege Escalation (PE) Vulnerability
Exploit Maturity
UNREPORTED
Response Effort
MODERATE
Recovery
USER
Value Density
DIFFUSE
Attack Vector
LOCAL
Attack Complexity
LOW
Attack Requirements
NONE
Automatable
NO
User Interaction
NONE
Product Confidentiality
LOW
Product Integrity
LOW
Product Availability
LOW
Privileges Required
HIGH
Subsequent Confidentiality
NONE
Subsequent Integrity
NONE
Subsequent Availability
NONE
Description
An incorrect privilege assignment vulnerability in Palo Alto Networks Cortex® XDR Broker VM allows an authenticated administrative user to execute certain files available within the Broker VM and escalate their privileges to root.
Product Status
| Versions | Affected | Unaffected |
|---|---|---|
| Cortex XDR Broker VM | < 27.0.26 | >= 27.0.26 |
Required Configuration for Exposure
No special configuration is required to be affected by this issue.
Severity: LOW, Suggested Urgency: MODERATE
CVSS-BT: 1.0 / CVSS-B: 4.6 (CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/AU:N/R:U/V:D/RE:M/U:Amber)
Exploitation Status
Palo Alto Networks is not aware of any malicious exploitation of this issue.
Weakness Type and Impact
CWE-266 Incorrect Privilege Assignment
CAPEC-233 Privilege Escalation
Solution
This issue is fixed in Cortex XDR Broker VM 27.0.26, and all later Cortex XDR Broker VM versions.
- If you enabled automatic upgrades for Broker VM, then no action is required at this time.
- If you did not enable automatic upgrades, then we recommend that you do so for Broker VM to ensure that you always have the latest security patches installed in your software.
Workarounds and Mitigations
No known workarounds or mitigations exist for this issue.
Acknowledgments
This issue was discovered during an internal penetration test
Timeline
Initial Publication