CVE-2020-2002: PAN-OS: Spoofed Kerberos key distribution center authentication bypass

Severity: high (CVSS 8.1 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 1.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2020-05-13 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-290

Description

An authentication bypass by spoofing vulnerability exists in the authentication daemon and User-ID components of Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS by failing to verify the integrity of the Kerberos key distribution center (KDC) before authenticating users. This affects all forms of authentication that use a Kerberos authentication profile. A man-in-the-middle type of attacker with the ability to intercept communication between PAN-OS and KDC can login to PAN-OS as an administrator. This issue affects: PAN-OS 7.1 versions earlier than 7.1.26; PAN-OS 8.1 versions earlier than 8.1.13; PAN-OS 9.0 versions earlier than 9.0.6; All version of PAN-OS 8.0.

Affected products

Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS: from 7.1.0 before 7.1.26; from 8.0.0 through 8.0.20; from 8.1.0 before 8.1.13; from 9.0.0 before 9.0.6 — fixed in 7.1.26, 8.1.13, 9.0.6

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS 7.1.26, 8.1.13, 9.0.6. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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