CVE-2026-0304 Cortex XDR Broker VM: Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
Description
A privilege escalation vulnerability in Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR Broker VM enables an authenticated low privileged user with man-in-the-middle (MitM) access to execute code with root privileges on the Broker VM.
Product Status
| Versions | Affected | Unaffected |
|---|---|---|
| Cortex XDR Broker VM 20.0.96 | < 32.0.52 | >= 32.0.52 |
Required Configuration for Exposure
No special configuration is required to be affected by this issue on brokers that process cloud-delivered mount actions.
Severity: MEDIUM, Suggested Urgency: MODERATE
MEDIUM
- CVSS-BT: 4.8 /CVSS-B: 7.5 (CVSS:4.0/AV:A/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:L/SI:L/SA:L/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-88 Improper Neutralization of Argument Delimiters in a Command ('Argument Injection')
Solution
This issue is fixed in Cortex XDR Broker VM 32.0.52, and all later Cortex XDR Broker VM versions.
If automatic upgrades are enabled for Broker VM, then no action is required at this time.
If automatic upgrades are not enabled for Broker VM, then we recommend that you do so to ensure that you always have the latest security patches installed in your software
Workarounds and Mitigations
No known workarounds exist for this issue.
Acknowledgments
CPE Applicability
- cpe:2.3:a:palo_alto_networks:cortex_xdr_broker_vm:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* is vulnerable from (including)32.0.0 and up to (excluding)32.0.52