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Incorrect Privilege AssignmentWeakness · CWE-266

CVE-2025-0140

MEDIUM · 6.8 CVSS v4.0 Published 2025-07-09
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
73/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 incorrect privilege assignment vulnerability in the Palo Alto Networks GlobalProtect™ App on macOS devices enables a locally authenticated non administrative user to disable the app even if the GlobalProtect app configuration would not normally permit them to do so. The GlobalProtect app on Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, Chrome OS and GlobalProtect UWP app are not affected.

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 · moderate confidence

This is a privilege assignment vulnerability in the GlobalProtect App on macOS where incorrect file permissions or access controls allow locally authenticated non-administrative users to disable the VPN client, bypassing configuration settings that should prevent such actions. The vulnerability stems from improper restriction of app termination capabilities for standard users on macOS systems.

MitigationApply the vendor-provided patch for GlobalProtect App on macOS when released; in the interim, monitor for unauthorized app disablement attempts and consider restricting local user privileges where feasible.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
Authentication
None
User interaction
None
Scope
X

CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:N/R:U/V:D/RE:M/U:Amber

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. Verify GlobalProtect App is installed on macOS
    Open Terminal and run: ls /Applications/ | grep -i globalprotect or check /Applications folder for Palo Alto Networks GlobalProtect.app
    Affected if GlobalProtect.app exists in /Applications
  2. Identify the installed GlobalProtect version
    Right-click GlobalProtect.app > Get Info, or run: defaults read /Applications/GlobalProtect.app/Contents/Info.plist CFBundleVersion
    Affected if Unable to determine version or version is unknown/older
  3. Check file ownership and permissions on GlobalProtect.app
    Run: ls -la /Applications/GlobalProtect.app/Contents/ and ls -la /Applications/GlobalProtect.app/Contents/MacOS/
    Affected if Files are owned by a standard user or have overly permissive settings (e.g., world-writable or owned by non-admin users)
  4. Verify access control restrictions on app termination
    Run: ls -le /Applications/GlobalProtect.app to check for extended attributes, or inspect codesign entitlements: codesign -d --entitlements - /Applications/GlobalProtect.app 2>/dev/null | grep -i kill
    Affected if No proper restrictions exist preventing standard users from sending termination signals to the app

A user is affected if GlobalProtect is installed on macOS and standard (non-administrative) local users can successfully terminate or disable the VPN client despite configuration settings intended to prevent this.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the vendor-provided patch for GlobalProtect App on macOS when released; in the interim, monitor for unauthorized app disablement attempts and consider restricting local user privileges where feasible.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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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-2025-0140 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
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