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Pan OsOperating system · Paloaltonetworks

CVE-2016-1712

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-08-02
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.0.19 / 5.1.12 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS before 5.0.19, 5.1.x before 5.1.12, 6.0.x before 6.0.14, 6.1.x before 6.1.12, and 7.0.x before 7.0.8 might allow local users to gain privileges by leveraging improper sanitization of the root_reboot local invocation.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

Local privilege escalation vulnerability in Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS where improper sanitization of the root_reboot local invocation allows local authenticated users to execute arbitrary code with root privileges.

MitigationUpgrade PAN-OS to a patched version: 5.0.19+, 5.1.12+, 6.0.14+, 6.1.12+, or 7.0.8+.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Pan OsOperating system
Affected:>= 5.0.0, < 5.0.19>= 5.1, < 5.1.12>= 6.0.0, < 6.0.14>= 6.1.0, < 6.1.12>= 7.0.0, < 7.0.8

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Determine installed PAN-OS version
    Access the PAN-OS management interface or CLI and run 'show system info' or check the Dashboard in the web interface to view the PAN-OS version
    Affected if The installed version falls within any of these ranges: 5.0.0 to 5.0.18, 5.1.0 to 5.1.11, 6.0.0 to 6.0.13, 6.1.0 to 6.1.11, or 7.0.0 to 7.0.7
  2. Verify local authenticated user access
    Confirm that local user accounts exist on the PAN-OS device with shell or CLI access privileges
    Affected if Local authenticated users can access the system (the vulnerability requires a local authenticated user to exploit)
  3. Confirm root_reboot command availability
    As a local authenticated user with CLI access, attempt to access the root_reboot command or check if it is exposed through the system
    Affected if The root_reboot command is accessible to authenticated local users without proper sanitization of input parameters

A user is affected if they are running a PAN-OS version within the affected ranges AND have local authenticated user accounts that could invoke the root_reboot command.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.0.19 / 5.1.12 / 6.0.14 or later
Fixed in 5.0.195.1.126.0.14
Interim mitigation

Upgrade PAN-OS to a patched version: 5.0.19+, 5.1.12+, 6.0.14+, 6.1.12+, or 7.0.8+.

Fix this in Pan Os Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,720
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,752.

Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-1712 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data