CVE-2020-2038: PAN-OS: OS command injection vulnerability in the management web interface

Severity: high (CVSS 7.2 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 86.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: yes
Published: 2020-09-09 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-78

Description

An OS Command Injection vulnerability in the PAN-OS management interface that allows authenticated administrators to execute arbitrary OS commands with root privileges. This issue impacts: PAN-OS 9.0 versions earlier than 9.0.10; PAN-OS 9.1 versions earlier than 9.1.4; PAN-OS 10.0 versions earlier than 10.0.1.

Affected products

Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS: from 9.0.0 before 9.0.10; from 9.1.0 before 9.1.4; from 10.0.0 before 10.0.1 — fixed in 9.0.10, 9.1.4, 10.0.1
Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS: from 10.0 before 10.0.1; from 9.0 before 9.0.10; from 9.1 before 9.1.4 — fixed in 10.0.1, 9.0.10, 9.1.4

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS 9.0.10, 9.1.4, 10.0.1; Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS 10.0.1, 9.0.10, 9.1.4. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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