GlobalProtect App: Privilege Escalation Vulnerability When Using Connect Before Logon
An improper handling of exceptional conditions vulnerability exists within the Connect Before Logon feature of the Palo Alto Networks GlobalProtect app that enables a local attacker to escalate to SYSTEM or root privileges when authenticating with Connect Before Logon under certain circumstances. This issue impacts GlobalProtect app 5.2 versions earlier than GlobalProtect app 5.2.9 on Windows and MacOS. This issue does not affect the GlobalProtect app on other platforms.
- Published
- Feb 10, 2022
- Updated
- Jun 17, 2026
- EPSS
- 0.2% · 10th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-703
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Report tools
Action score
31
Monitor
Low priority for now.
- CVSS
- 31 / 40 · 7.8 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 0 / 30 · 0.2%
CNA vs NVD score
- NVD
- 7.8
- CNA · palo_alto
- 7.4
- 0.4 point gap
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.
Affected systems
| Vendor | Product | CPE |
|---|---|---|
| paloaltonetworks | globalprotect | cpe:2.3:a:paloaltonetworks:globalprotect |
| apple | macos | cpe:2.3:o:apple:macos |
| microsoft | windows | cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows |
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Affected versions
NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.
- paloaltonetworks globalprotect5.2 and later · before 5.2.9
Versions reported by the vendor
Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (palo_alto). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.
Palo Alto Networks GlobalProtect App
- 5.3.*not affected
- 5.2 and later · before 5.2.9affectedfixed in 5.2.9
- 5.1.* and later · before 5.1*not affected
Same product
paloaltonetworks: all recordsOther highest-scoring records for the same primary product.
- CVE-2025-4232GlobalProtect: Authenticated Code Injection Through Wildcard on macOS34Monitor
- CVE-2021-3057GlobalProtect App: Buffer Overflow Vulnerability When Connecting to Portal or Gateway32Monitor
- CVE-2023-0009GlobalProtect App: Local Privilege Escalation (PE) Vulnerability31Monitor
- CVE-2022-0017GlobalProtect App: Improper Link Resolution Vulnerability Leads to Local Privilege Escalation31Monitor
- CVE-2020-1989Global Protect Agent: Incorrect privilege assignment allows local privilege escalation31Monitor
- CVE-2025-0120GlobalProtect App: Local Privilege Escalation (PE) Vulnerability28Monitor
Remediation
Which version to upgrade to
Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.
| Product / package | Fixed version | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Palo Alto Networks GlobalProtect App | 5.2.9 | Vendor (CNA) |
Exploit status
No known public exploit
No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.
Research context
For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.
Timeline
From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.
No dated events beyond publication.
FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).
Patch and commit links
Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.
No commit or PR link among the references.
Credits
All researchersFinders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.
Variant candidates
Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.
No nightly-computed relations.
Chain candidates
An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.
—
Bug bounty scope
No known public program.
Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).
Technical details
Attack conditions
- Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
- A low-privileged account is enough.
- No user action is required.
- No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
If successful
- Confidentiality
- high · data can be read
- Integrity
- high · data or configuration can be modified
- Availability
- high · the service can be disrupted
- Attack vector
- Local
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality impact
- High
- Integrity impact
- High
- Availability impact
- High
Weakness class (CWE)
CWE-703 · Improper Check or Handling of Exceptional ConditionsCVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
nvd-primary
Attack context
MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.
MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.
Noroxi analysis
No Noroxi analysis for this record yet
We don't hand-write analysis for all 385,000+ vulnerabilities; that wouldn't be honest. For notable, high-impact vulnerabilities our team writes the mechanism, detection and remediation steps.
We use this product, ask for helpChange log
- Fix✗ → ✓
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References
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.