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Pan OsOperating system · Paloaltonetworks

CVE-2020-2002

HIGH · 8.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-05-13
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 7.1.26 / 8.1.13 or later.
See remediation →
90/100
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
An authentication bypass by spoofing vulnerability exists in the authentication daemon and User-ID components of Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS by failing to verify the integrity of the Kerberos key distribution center (KDC) before authenticating users. This affects all forms of authentication that use a Kerberos authentication profile. A man-in-the-middle type of attacker with the ability to intercept communication between PAN-OS and KDC can login to PAN-OS as an administrator. This issue affects: PAN-OS 7.1 versions earlier than 7.1.26; PAN-OS 8.1 versions earlier than 8.1.13; PAN-OS 9.0 versions earlier than 9.0.6; All version of PAN-OS 8.0.

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

PAN-OS fails to verify the integrity of the Kerberos Key Distribution Center (KDC) before authenticating users in the authentication daemon and User-ID components. A man-in-the-middle attacker intercepting communication between PAN-OS and the KDC can bypass authentication and login as an administrator using any Kerberos authentication profile.

MitigationUpgrade PAN-OS to version 7.1.26, 8.1.13, 9.0.6 or later. Until upgraded, implement network controls to prevent MITM attacks between PAN-OS and the KDC, such as enforcing IPsec or private network paths.

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:>= 7.1.0, < 7.1.26>= 8.0.0, <= 8.0.20>= 8.1.0, < 8.1.13>= 9.0.0, < 9.0.6

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
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/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. Check PAN-OS version
    From the PAN-OS management interface, go to Device > Support or use the command 'show system info' in the CLI to view the installed version.
    Affected if The installed version falls within these ranges: 7.1.0 to 7.1.26 (excluding 7.1.26), 8.0.0 to 8.0.20, 8.1.0 to 8.1.13 (excluding 8.1.13), or 9.0.0 to 9.0.6 (excluding 9.0.6).
  2. Verify if Kerberos authentication profiles exist
    In the PAN-OS web interface, navigate to Device > User Identification > Authentication Profile and review any profiles configured. In the CLI, use 'show running auth-profile' to list configured authentication profiles.
    Affected if Any authentication profile is configured that uses Kerberos as the authentication method.
  3. Confirm User-ID Kerberos integration
    In the web interface, go to Device > User Identification > User-ID Agents or check the Kerberos Key Distribution Center (KDC) settings under Server Profile configuration. Verify if User-ID is configured to use Kerberos for LDAP or other integrations.
    Affected if User-ID is enabled and configured to authenticate against a Kerberos KDC.
  4. Identify KDC server configuration
    Check the configured authentication profile for the Kerberos server settings: look for the KDC hostname/IP under the authentication profile Kerberos settings, or use 'show kerberos' in the CLI to display the configured Kerberos server profile.
    Affected if A Kerberos KDC server is defined in the PAN-OS configuration.

You are affected if your PAN-OS version is within the vulnerable ranges AND you have Kerberos authentication profiles configured that communicate with a KDC, enabling a MITM attacker to intercept and impersonate the KDC to bypass authentication.

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 7.1.26 / 8.1.13 / 9.0.6 or later
Fixed in 7.1.268.1.139.0.6
Interim mitigation

Upgrade PAN-OS to version 7.1.26, 8.1.13, 9.0.6 or later. Until upgraded, implement network controls to prevent MITM attacks between PAN-OS and the KDC, such as enforcing IPsec or private network paths.

Fix this in Pan Os Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,130
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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-2020-2002 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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