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Pan OsOperating system · Paloaltonetworks

CVE-2023-0004

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-04-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 8.1.24 / 9.0.17 or later.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 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 local file deletion vulnerability in Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS software enables an authenticated administrator to delete files from the local file system with elevated privileges. These files can include logs and system components that impact the integrity and availability of PAN-OS software.

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 local file deletion vulnerability in Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS allows authenticated administrators to delete files from the local filesystem with elevated privileges, potentially impacting system integrity and availability by removing logs and critical system components.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied patch for PAN-OS and review administrator access controls to ensure only necessary personnel have elevated privileges.

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, < 8.1.24>= 9.0.0, < 9.0.17>= 9.1.0, < 9.1.15>= 10.0.0, < 10.0.11>= 10.1.0, < 10.1.6
FedoraOperating system
Affected:= 37= 38= 39

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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
    Use the CLI command 'show system info' or access the web interface under Device > Setup > Operations to view the system version
    Affected if The version falls within any of these ranges: 8.1.0 to 8.1.23, 9.0.0 to 9.0.16, 9.1.0 to 9.1.14, 10.0.0 to 10.0.10, or 10.1.0 to 10.1.5
  2. Verify admin role permissions
    Review admin role configurations in PAN-OS under Objects > Admin Roles or Device > Admin Users to inspect what file operation privileges are assigned
    Affected if Any admin role grants permissions to perform file deletion or file system operations beyond standard configuration tasks
  3. Identify active administrator accounts
    List all administrator accounts with Device > Admin Users or via 'show admins' CLI command to see who has authenticated access
    Affected if There are multiple administrator accounts with full privileges, increasing the attack surface for this vulnerability
  4. Check for unexpected file deletions
    Review system logs under Monitor > Logs > System for events indicating file deletion operations, particularly entries from the admin role performing mass file removal
    Affected if Recent system logs show file deletion events that were not part of normal maintenance procedures

You are affected if your PAN-OS version is within any of the listed vulnerable version ranges and you have administrator accounts configured with elevated privileges.

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 8.1.24 / 9.0.17 / 9.1.15 or later
Fixed in 8.1.249.0.179.1.15
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor-supplied patch for PAN-OS and review administrator access controls to ensure only necessary personnel have elevated privileges.

Recommended fix High confidence

PAN-OS 8.1.24 / 9.0.17 / 9.1.15 / 10.0.11 (depending on your current major version branch)

  1. For PAN-OS 8.1.x: Upgrade to version 8.1.24 or later
  2. For PAN-OS 9.0.x: Upgrade to version 9.0.17 or later
  3. For PAN-OS 9.1.x: Upgrade to version 9.1.15 or later
  4. For PAN-OS 10.0.x: Upgrade to version 10.0.11 or later
  5. After upgrade, verify the patch was applied by checking the PAN-OS management interface for the security update confirmation
  6. Review administrator access permissions post-upgrade to ensure proper least-privilege configuration
Caveat Review PAN-OS release notes for any compatibility changes or deprecated features before upgrading; test in staging environment first

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
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,120
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,392.

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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-2023-0004 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