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GlobalprotectApplication · Paloaltonetworks

CVE-2020-1976

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-02-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 5.0.5 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
A denial-of-service (DoS) vulnerability in Palo Alto Networks GlobalProtect software running on Mac OS allows authenticated local users to cause the Mac OS kernel to hang or crash. This issue affects GlobalProtect 5.0.5 and earlier versions of GlobalProtect 5.0 on Mac OS.

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

A local denial-of-service vulnerability in Palo Alto Networks GlobalProtect client software versions 5.0.5 and earlier on Mac OS allows an authenticated local user to trigger a kernel hang or crash, completely impacting system availability.

MitigationUpgrade GlobalProtect to a version later than 5.0.5 on all Mac OS endpoints to remediate this vulnerability.

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
GlobalprotectApplication
Affected:>= 5.0, <= 5.0.5

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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. Verify GlobalProtect is installed on Mac OS
    Check for the presence of GlobalProtect.app in /Applications directory using: ls -la /Applications/ | grep -i GlobalProtect
    Affected if GlobalProtect.app is not found in /Applications, the vulnerability does not apply
  2. Identify installed GlobalProtect version on Mac
    Open GlobalProtect.app, navigate to the app's Info window (Cmd+I in Finder), or run: defaults read /Applications/GlobalProtect.app/Contents/Info.plist CFBundleShortVersionString
    Affected if No version information is returned or the application is not installed
  3. Compare version against affected range
    Compare the installed version number to the affected range: 5.0 through 5.0.5 (inclusive)
    Affected if Installed version is 5.0, 5.0.1, 5.0.2, 5.0.3, 5.0.4, or 5.0.5, indicating the environment is affected by this CVE
  4. Confirm OS is Mac OS
    Verify the operating system is macOS by checking System Preferences or running: uname -s
    Affected if The operating system is not macOS (e.g., Windows or Linux), as this specific vulnerability affects only macOS endpoints

A Mac OS system with GlobalProtect version 5.0 through 5.0.5 installed is affected by this vulnerability; version 5.0.6 or later, or absence of GlobalProtect, indicates the system is not affected.

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 a release after 5.0.5
Interim mitigation

Upgrade GlobalProtect to a version later than 5.0.5 on all Mac OS endpoints to remediate this vulnerability.

Fix this in Globalprotect Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.

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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-2020-1976 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