CVE-2020-2018: Authentication Bypass in Palo Alto PAN-OS

Successful exploitation of CVE-2020-2018 grants an attacker unauthorized privileged access to managed firewalls within a Palo Alto Networks environment. This could lead to complete compromise of the firewall, enabling attackers to modify security policies, exfiltrate sensitive data, and pivot to other systems within the network. The attacker requires some knowledge of the managed firewalls to exploit the vulnerability effectively. The blast radius extends to all managed firewalls connected to the vulnerable Panorama instance, potentially impacting the entire network infrastructure. This vulnerability shares characteristics with other privilege escalation flaws, where a lack of proper authentication checks allows unauthorized access to sensitive resources.

1. Reserved2019-12-04
2. Published2020-05-13
3. Modified2024-09-16
4. EPSS updated2026-04-02

The primary mitigation for CVE-2020-2018 is to upgrade to PAN-OS version 9.0.6 or later. If an immediate upgrade is not feasible, Palo Alto Networks recommends implementing network segmentation to limit access to the Panorama management interface. Consider using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or proxy to filter traffic and block suspicious requests targeting the context switching feature. Review and restrict access controls to the Panorama management interface, ensuring only authorized personnel can access it. For environments using custom certificates for communication between Panorama and managed devices, this vulnerability is not applicable. After upgrading, verify the fix by attempting to access the Panorama management interface from an unauthorized network location and confirming access is denied.