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Pan OsOperating system · Paloaltonetworks

CVE-2020-1992

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-04-08
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 9.0.7 / 9.1.2 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
A format string vulnerability in the Varrcvr daemon of PAN-OS on PA-7000 Series devices with a Log Forwarding Card (LFC) allows remote attackers to crash the daemon creating a denial of service condition or potentially execute code with root privileges. This issue affects Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS 9.0 versions before 9.0.7; PAN-OS 9.1 versions before 9.1.2 on PA-7000 Series devices with an LFC installed and configured. This issue requires WildFire services to be configured and enabled. This issue does not affect PAN-OS 8.1 and earlier releases. This issue does not affect any other PA Series firewalls.

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

A format string vulnerability exists in the Varrcvr daemon of PAN-OS on PA-7000 Series devices with a Log Forwarding Card (LFC) installed. The vulnerability can be exploited remotely by attackers to cause denial of service or potentially achieve code execution with root privileges, but only when WildFire services are configured and enabled.

MitigationUpgrade PAN-OS to version 9.0.7 or later (for 9.0 branches) or 9.1.2 or later (for 9.1 branches) on affected PA-7000 Series devices with LFC and WildFire enabled. If upgrading is not immediately feasible, consider disabling WildFire services as a temporary mitigation if业务ally acceptable.

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:>= 9.0.0, < 9.0.7>= 9.1.0, < 9.1.2

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 device model
    Run the command to display system information (e.g., show system info or show device-details) and look for PA-7000 Series in the model field
    Affected if Device model is NOT PA-7000 Series (not affected)
  2. Verify LFC installation
    Check hardware status or expansion card status (e.g., show hardware or show lfc status) to confirm a Log Forwarding Card is physically installed
    Affected if No Log Forwarding Card is installed (not affected)
  3. Check PAN-OS version
    Run the command to display the PAN-OS version (e.g., show system info or show version) and compare against the affected ranges: 9.0.0 to 9.0.6, or 9.1.0 to 9.1.1
    Affected if Version is 9.0.7 or later, OR 9.1.2 or later (not affected)
  4. Verify WildFire service status
    Check the WildFire configuration (e.g.,show wildfire config or show deviceconfig system wildfire) to determine if WildFire services are enabled
    Affected if WildFire services are disabled or not configured (not affected)

User is affected only if: device is PA-7000 Series AND has a Log Forwarding Card AND runs PAN-OS 9.0.0-9.0.6 or 9.1.0-9.1.1 AND has WildFire services enabled

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 9.0.7 / 9.1.2 or later
Fixed in 9.0.79.1.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade PAN-OS to version 9.0.7 or later (for 9.0 branches) or 9.1.2 or later (for 9.1 branches) on affected PA-7000 Series devices with LFC and WildFire enabled. If upgrading is not immediately feasible, consider disabling WildFire services as a temporary mitigation if业务ally acceptable.

Recommended fix High confidence

PAN-OS 9.0.7 or PAN-OS 9.1.2 (depending on current branch)

  1. 1. Verify the device is a PA-7000 Series firewall with a Log Forwarding Card (LFC) installed and configured
  2. 2. Confirm the current PAN-OS version is 9.0.x (before 9.0.7) or 9.1.x (before 9.1.2) using the web interface or CLI: 'show system info'
  3. 3. For PAN-OS 9.0.x installations: upgrade to PAN-OS version 9.0.7 or later
  4. 4. For PAN-OS 9.1.x installations: upgrade to PAN-OS version 9.1.2 or later
  5. 5. After upgrade, verify WildFire services are functioning properly and the Varrcvr daemon is running
Caveat Review Palo Alto Networks upgrade guide for compatibility requirements; ensure backup of configuration before upgrading

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

Fix this in Pan Os Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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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-2020-1992 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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