dbcve.org
Pan OsOperating system · Paloaltonetworks

CVE-2021-3048

MEDIUM · 5.9 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-08-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 9.0.14 / 9.1.9 or later.
See remediation →
68/100
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
Certain invalid URL entries contained in an External Dynamic List (EDL) cause the Device Server daemon (devsrvr) to stop responding. This condition causes subsequent commits on the firewall to fail and prevents administrators from performing commits and configuration changes even though the firewall remains otherwise functional. If the firewall then restarts, it results in a denial-of-service (DoS) condition and the firewall stops processing traffic. This issue impacts: PAN-OS 9.0 versions earlier than PAN-OS 9.0.14; PAN-OS 9.1 versions earlier than PAN-OS 9.1.9; PAN-OS 10.0 versions earlier than PAN-OS 10.0.5. PAN-OS 8.1 and PAN-OS 10.1 versions are not impacted.

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

Invalid URL entries in an External Dynamic List (EDL) cause the Device Server daemon (devsrvr) to stop responding, preventing commit operations and configuration changes. If the firewall restarts while in this state, it results in a complete denial-of-service where traffic processing stops.

MitigationUpgrade PAN-OS to version 9.0.14, 9.1.9, 10.0.5 or later. As a workaround, ensure EDLs do not contain invalid URL entries until the patch can be applied.

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, < 9.0.14>= 9.1.0, < 9.1.9>= 10.0.0, < 10.0.5

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/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. Check PAN-OS version
    Run 'show system info' or access the web UI under Device > Setup > Operations to view the PAN-OS version
    Affected if The installed version falls within these ranges: 9.0.0-9.0.13, 9.1.0-9.1.8, or 10.0.0-10.0.4
  2. Identify configured External Dynamic Lists
    Navigate to Objects > External Dynamic Lists in the web UI, or run 'show objects edl' in the CLI
    Affected if Any EDL objects are configured and in use on the firewall
  3. Inspect EDL content for invalid URLs
    Review the source URL for each EDL entry. Common invalid patterns include malformed URLs, non-HTTP/HTTPS protocols, or URLs pointing to inaccessible or incorrectly formatted files
    Affected if Any EDL references a URL that returns invalid or malformed content
  4. Check Device Server daemon status
    Run 'show system resources' or 'debug software daemon status devsrvr' in the CLI to verify if the devsrvr daemon is responsive
    Affected if The devsrvr daemon is not responding or show signs of hangs
  5. Verify commit capability
    Attempt a commit operation (commit force if needed) or check the commit queue status using 'show jobs committed'
    Affected if Commit operations fail or hang, indicating potential daemon issues

A user is affected if they run an affected PAN-OS version (9.0.x before 9.0.14, 9.1.x before 9.1.9, or 10.0.x before 10.0.5) AND have External Dynamic Lists configured with invalid URL entries that have caused the devsrvr daemon to stop responding.

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 9.0.14 / 9.1.9 / 10.0.5 or later
Fixed in 9.0.149.1.910.0.5
Interim mitigation

Upgrade PAN-OS to version 9.0.14, 9.1.9, 10.0.5 or later. As a workaround, ensure EDLs do not contain invalid URL entries until the patch can be applied.

Fix this in Pan Os Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.

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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-2021-3048 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