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Pan OsOperating system · Paloaltonetworks

CVE-2019-17440

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-12-20
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 9.0.5 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges 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
Improper restriction of communications to Log Forwarding Card (LFC) on PA-7000 Series devices with second-generation Switch Management Card (SMC) may allow an attacker with network access to the LFC to gain root access to PAN-OS. This issue affects PAN-OS 9.0 versions prior to 9.0.5-h3 on PA-7080 and PA-7050 devices with an LFC installed and configured. This issue does not affect PA-7000 Series deployments using the first-generation SMC and the Log Processing Card (LPC). This issue does not affect any other PA series devices. This issue does not affect devices without an LFC. This issue does not affect PAN-OS 8.1 or prior releases. This issue only affected a very limited number of customers and we undertook individual outreach to help them upgrade. At the time of publication, all identified customers have upgraded SW or content and are not impacted.

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 · high confidence

Improper restriction of communications to the Log Forwarding Card (LFC) on PA-7000 Series firewalls with second-generation Switch Management Card (SMC) allows an attacker with network access to the LFC to gain root access to PAN-OS. This affects PA-7080 and PA-7050 devices with LFC installed on PAN-OS 9.0 versions prior to 9.0.5-h3.

MitigationUpgrade PAN-OS to version 9.0.5-h3 or later. Confirm affected hardware configuration (PA-7080/PA-7050 with second-gen SMC and LFC) does not have exposed network access.

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:>= 9.0, <= 9.0.5

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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. Identify the firewall model
    Use the command 'show system info' or check the device label to confirm the model is PA-7080 or PA-7050. Only these two models in the PA-7000 series are affected.
    Affected if The device model is PA-7080 or PA-7050 and matches the other conditions.
  2. Check the PAN-OS version
    Run 'show system info' or view the Dashboard in the web interface to identify the installed PAN-OS version.
    Affected if PAN-OS version is 9.0.x where x is less than 5, or exactly 9.0.5 prior to the h3 hotfix.
  3. Verify second-generation Switch Management Card
    Run 'show card' or 'show system hardware' to list installed hardware components. Look for 'Switch Management Card' and check the generation. On PA-7000 series, the second-gen SMC is required for this vulnerability.
    Affected if A second-generation Switch Management Card (SMC) is installed in the chassis.
  4. Confirm Log Forwarding Card is installed
    Run 'show card' or 'show system hardware' to list all installed cards. Identify if a Log Forwarding Card (LFC) is present in any slot.
    Affected if A Log Forwarding Card (LFC) is installed in the firewall.
  5. Assess LFC network accessibility
    Review the network configuration for the LFC interface. Check if the LFC has an IP address and is reachable from untrusted networks. Use 'show interface' and review routing/zone assignments.
    Affected if The LFC is configured with network access and is reachable from external or untrusted network segments.

A user is affected if they have a PA-7080 or PA-7050 firewall running PAN-OS 9.0 through 9.0.5 with a second-gen SMC and an LFC installed that has network accessibility.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 9.0.5
Interim mitigation

Upgrade PAN-OS to version 9.0.5-h3 or later. Confirm affected hardware configuration (PA-7080/PA-7050 with second-gen SMC and LFC) does not have exposed network access.

Recommended fix High confidence

PAN-OS 9.0.5-h3 (or later)

  1. 1. Verify the device model is PA-7080 or PA-7050 with second-generation Switch Management Card (SMC)
  2. 2. Verify Log Forwarding Card (LFC) is installed and configured
  3. 3. Confirm current PAN-OS version is 9.0.x (prior to 9.0.5-h3)
  4. 4. Schedule maintenance window for the upgrade
  5. 5. Download PAN-OS 9.0.5-h3 or later from Palo Alto Networks support portal
  6. 6. Upload the upgrade file to the device
  7. 7. Install the upgrade following Palo Alto Networks upgrade procedure
  8. 8. Verify the upgrade was successful and the device is functioning normally
Caveat Standard PAN-OS upgrade considerations apply - ensure compatibility with existing configurations and plugins before upgrading

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Pan Os Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2019-17440 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