CVE-2020-1981: PAN-OS: Predictable temporary filename vulnerability allows local privilege escalation

Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.4% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2020-03-11 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-377

Description

A predictable temporary filename vulnerability in PAN-OS allows local privilege escalation. This issue allows a local attacker who bypassed the restricted shell to execute commands as a low privileged user and gain root access on the PAN-OS hardware or virtual appliance. This issue affects only PAN-OS 8.1 versions earlier than PAN-OS 8.1.13. This issue does not affect PAN-OS 7.1, PAN-OS 9.0, or later PAN-OS versions.

Affected products

Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS: from 8.1.0 before 8.1.13 — fixed in 8.1.13

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS 8.1.13. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

Get alerted when CVE-2020-1981 or the next vulnerability affects your stack