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Pan OsOperating system · Paloaltonetworks

CVE-2020-2039

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-09-09
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 8.1.16 / 9.0.10 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS allows for a remote unauthenticated user to upload temporary files through the management web interface that are not properly deleted after the request is finished. It is possible for an attacker to disrupt the availability of the management web interface by repeatedly uploading files until available disk space is exhausted. This issue impacts: PAN-OS 8.1 versions earlier than PAN-OS 8.1.16; PAN-OS 9.0 versions earlier than PAN-OS 9.0.10; PAN-OS 9.1 versions earlier than PAN-OS 9.1.4; PAN-OS 10.0 versions earlier than PAN-OS 10.0.1.

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

An uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS allows unauthenticated remote users to upload temporary files through the management web interface that are not properly deleted after the request completes. Attackers can repeatedly upload files to exhaust available disk space, causing denial of service.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied patches: PAN-OS 8.1.16, 9.0.10, 9.1.4, or 10.0.1 or later. Implement network-level restrictions to limit exposure of the management web interface to untrusted networks.

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:>= 8.1.0, < 8.1.16>= 9.0.0, < 9.0.10>= 9.1.0, < 9.1.4>= 10.0.0, < 10.0.1

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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Low

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

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. Determine PAN-OS version
    Run 'show system info' from the PAN-OS CLI or check the web interface under Device > Summary
    Affected if The version falls within 8.1.0-8.1.15, 9.0.0-9.0.9, 9.1.0-9.1.3, or 10.0.0
  2. Verify management web interface exposure
    Review network firewall rules or PAN-OS interface settings to determine if the management web interface (HTTPS on port 443) is reachable from untrusted networks
    Affected if The management interface is accessible from networks outside the trusted administrative zone
  3. Check available disk space
    Run 'show system disk-space' from the PAN-OS CLI
    Affected if Disk space is severely depleted or shows unusual consumption patterns
  4. Inspect for leftover temporary upload files
    Examine the filesystem for temporary files that persist after upload requests complete. On PAN-OS, check /tmp and related directories accessible via maintenance mode or TAC support
    Affected if A large number of orphaned temporary files exist on the system that have not been cleaned up

You are affected if your PAN-OS version is within the affected ranges AND the management web interface is exposed to untrusted networks, potentially leading to disk exhaustion from leftover temporary upload files.

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 8.1.16 / 9.0.10 / 9.1.4 or later
Fixed in 8.1.169.0.109.1.4
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor-supplied patches: PAN-OS 8.1.16, 9.0.10, 9.1.4, or 10.0.1 or later. Implement network-level restrictions to limit exposure of the management web interface to untrusted networks.

Fix this in Pan Os Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,480
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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-2020-2039 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