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Pan OsOperating system · Paloaltonetworks

CVE-2024-2551

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-11-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.1.14 / 10.2.4 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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
A null pointer dereference vulnerability in Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS software enables an unauthenticated attacker to stop a core system service on the firewall by sending a crafted packet through the data plane that causes a denial of service (DoS) condition. Repeated attempts to trigger this condition result in the firewall entering maintenance mode.

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 null pointer dereference vulnerability in PAN-OS allows unauthenticated attackers to send crafted packets through the data plane, causing a core system service to crash and resulting in denial of service. Repeated exploitation forces the firewall into maintenance mode.

MitigationApply the vendor patch for CVE-2024-2551; until patched, consider network segmentation or filtering to limit exposure to untrusted traffic sources.

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:>= 10.1.0, < 10.1.14>= 10.2.0, < 10.2.4>= 11.0.0, < 11.0.5= 10.2.4

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
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/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. Determine the PAN-OS version
    Log into the firewall CLI and run 'show system info' or use the web GUI under Device > Setup > Operations > Show System Info to locate the PAN-OS version field
    Affected if The version displayed falls within these ranges: 10.1.0 to 10.1.13, 10.2.0 to 10.2.3, 10.2.4, or 11.0.0 to 11.0.4
  2. Verify management and data plane exposure
    Review network configuration to confirm whether the firewall management interface or untrust-zone interfaces are directly accessible from untrusted or external networks
    Affected if The management interface or data plane interfaces with the vulnerable service are reachable from untrusted networks without filtering
  3. Check for service crashes or maintenance mode events
    In the firewall CLI, run 'show system log-files' or review system logs for entries indicating core services have crashed, or check if the device recently entered maintenance mode unexpectedly
    Affected if Logs show core system service crashes or the device was forced into maintenance mode without administrative action
  4. Inspect data plane packet processing
    Monitor network traffic logs or run 'show session all' to observe if unusual or crafted packets from untrusted sources are being processed by the data plane
    Affected if The firewall is actively processing untrusted traffic that could trigger the null pointer dereference

A user is affected if their PAN-OS version falls within the affected ranges (10.1.0-10.1.13, 10.2.0-10.2.3, 10.2.4, or 11.0.0-11.0.4) AND the firewall management or data plane interfaces are exposed to untrusted network traffic.

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 10.1.14 / 10.2.4 / 11.0.5 or later
Fixed in 10.1.1410.2.411.0.5
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor patch for CVE-2024-2551; until patched, consider network segmentation or filtering to limit exposure to untrusted traffic sources.

Recommended fix High confidence

PAN-OS 10.1.14 (for 10.1.x branch); PAN-OS 10.2.5 or later (for 10.2.x branch); PAN-OS 11.0.5 or later (for 11.0.x branch)

  1. 1. Identify the current PAN-OS version running on the firewall using the web interface (Device > Runtime Stats) or CLI: show system info
  2. 2. Determine which version branch (10.1.x, 10.2.x, or 11.0.x) the current installation falls into
  3. 3. For PAN-OS 10.1.x (versions 10.1.0-10.1.13): Schedule a maintenance window and upgrade to PAN-OS 10.1.14 or later
  4. 4. For PAN-OS 10.2.x (versions 10.2.0-10.2.4): Schedule a maintenance window and upgrade to PAN-OS 10.2.5 or later
  5. 5. For PAN-OS 11.0.x (versions 11.0.0-11.0.4): Schedule a maintenance window and upgrade to PAN-OS 11.0.5 or later
  6. 6. Before upgrading, review Palo Alto Networks pre-upgrade checklist and backup the firewall configuration
  7. 7. After upgrade, verify the firewall is operational and core services are running
Caveat Review PAN-OS upgrade guide for any compatibility notes; some features may behave differently across major version jumps

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Pan Os Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
24.0 hours of engineering $4,260
Get the upgrade done

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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2024-2551 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