Pan OsOperating system · Paloaltonetworks
CVE-2020-2022
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 · uneditedAn information exposure vulnerability exists in Palo Alto Networks Panorama software that discloses the token for the Panorama web interface administrator's session to a managed device when the Panorama administrator performs a context switch into that device. This vulnerability allows an attacker to gain privileged access to the Panorama web interface. An attacker requires some knowledge of managed firewalls to exploit this issue. This issue impacts: PAN-OS 8.1 versions earlier than PAN-OS 8.1.17; PAN-OS 9.0 versions earlier than PAN-OS 9.0.11; PAN-OS 9.1 versions earlier than PAN-OS 9.1.5.
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 confidenceAn information exposure vulnerability in Palo Alto Networks Panorama software discloses the session token for the Panorama web interface administrator to a managed device during context switch operations. An attacker with knowledge of managed firewalls can intercept this token and gain privileged access to the Panorama web interface.
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
>= 8.1.0, < 8.1.17>= 9.0.0, < 9.0.11>= 9.1.0, < 9.1.5CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Panorama versionLog into the Panorama CLI and run 'show system info' or access the Panorama web interface, go to Dashboard > General Information to view the PAN-OS versionAffected if The installed PAN-OS version falls within 8.1.0 to 8.1.16, 9.0.0 to 9.0.10, or 9.1.0 to 9.1.4
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Confirm managed devices existIn Panorama web interface, navigate to Panorama > Managed Devices > Summary or use CLI command 'show devices' to list all firewalls managed by this Panorama applianceAffected if Panorama has one or more managed firewalls or hardware devices configured; the vulnerability only triggers during context switch to managed devices
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Verify context switch functionality is usedReview Panorama admin logs or check if administrators frequently switch context from Panorama to managed device interfaces using the web interface dropdown or CLI command 'request jump-to-device'Affected if Context switch operations to managed devices are performed; this is the specific action that triggers the session token disclosure
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Inspect logs for token exposureReview Panorama system logs and traffic logs for any entries containing session tokens or authentication cookies being transmitted to managed device IPs during context switch operationsAffected if Logs show session tokens or authentication data being sent to managed device IP addresses during admin context switches
A user is affected if Panorama runs an affected PAN-OS version (8.1.0-8.1.16, 9.0.0-9.0.10, or 9.1.0-9.1.4) AND has managed firewalls configured where context switching is used.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 data8.1.179.0.119.1.5
Upgrade Panorama to PAN-OS 8.1.17, PAN-OS 9.0.11, PAN-OS 9.1.5, or later versions to resolve the session token disclosure vulnerability.
Fix this in Pan Os
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-2022 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-2022 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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