Cortex XDR Agent: Local Privilege Escalation (PE) Vulnerability
Noroxi assessment
Priority: Monitor (action score 20/100)
- The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
- Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.13% (FIRST EPSS).
- Someone with local access to the system can trigger it. A low-privileged account is enough. No user action is required. Special conditions such as timing or configuration are required.
- Fixed version: Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR Agent 7.9.102-CE, 8.2.3, 8.3.1.
- Mentioned 1 time in Turkish national cyber security advisories (siberguvenlik.gov.tr).
Low priority for now. Upgrade to Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR Agent 7.9.102-CE, 8.2.3, 8.3.1 or later.
Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it
Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS
A privilege escalation (PE) vulnerability in the Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR agent on Windows devices enables a local user to execute programs with elevated privileges. However, execution does require the local user to successfully exploit a race condition, which makes this vulnerability difficult to exploit.
- Published
- Jun 12, 2024
- Updated
- Jun 17, 2026
- EPSS
- 0.1% · 2th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-269
Report tools
Action score
20
Monitor
Low priority for now.
- CVSS
- 20 / 40 · 5.2 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 0 / 30 · 0.1%
CISA SSVC decision
- Exploitation
- none
- Automatable
- no
- Technical impact
- total
Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.
CNA vs NVD score
- NVD
- —
- CNA · palo_alto
- 5.2
- NVD has not scored this yet; the score shown is the CNA’s.
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/AU:N/R:U/V:D/RE:M/U:Amber
The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.
Get told when this record changes
- Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
- No public exploit code on record
- A fix has been released
If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.
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Noroxi analysis
What does it mean in your environment?
The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.
We use this product, ask for helpAffected systems
Is your version affected?
Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.
| Vendor | Product | CPE |
|---|---|---|
| paloaltonetworks | cortex xdr agent | cpe:2.3:a:paloaltonetworks:cortex_xdr_agent |
Affected versions
NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.
- paloaltonetworks cortex xdr agent7.9 and later · before 7.9.102
- paloaltonetworks cortex xdr agent8.1 and later · before 8.2.3
- paloaltonetworks cortex xdr agent8.3 and later · before 8.3.1
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 Cortex XDR Agent
- 8.4.0not affected
- 8.1.0affected
- 7.9-CE and later · before 7.9.102-CEaffectedfixed in 7.9.102-CE
- 8.2.0 and later · before 8.2.3affectedfixed in 8.2.3
- 8.3.0 and later · before 8.3.1affectedfixed in 8.3.1
Same product
paloaltonetworks: all recordsOther highest-scoring records for the same primary product.
- CVE-2023-0002Cortex XDR Agent: Product Disruption by Local Windows User31Monitor
- CVE-2022-0015Cortex XDR Agent: An Uncontrolled Search Path Element Leads to Local Privilege Escalation (PE) Vulnerability31Monitor
- CVE-2021-3042Cortex XDR Agent: Improper Control of User-Controlled File Leads to Local Privilege Escalation31Monitor
Published before and after this one in the same product
- ← EarlierCVE-2023-3280Sep 13, 2023 · Cortex XDR Agent: Local Windows User Can Disable the Agent22Monitor
- ← EarlierCVE-2024-5905Jun 12, 2024 · Cortex XDR Agent: Local Windows User Can Disrupt Functionality of the Agent8Monitor
- Later →CVE-2024-5909Jun 12, 2024 · Cortex XDR Agent: Local Windows User Can Disable the Agent27Monitor
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 Cortex XDR Agent | 7.9.102-CE | Vendor (CNA) |
| Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR Agent | 8.2.3 | Vendor (CNA) |
| Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR Agent | 8.3.1 | 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.
- CVE-2024-59090 days apartCortex XDR Agent: Local Windows User Can Disable the Agent27Monitor
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).
National notice (Türkiye Cybersecurity Directorate / USOM)
Official security notices citing this record; remediation advice is on the agency's page.
- TR-24-0702 · Jun 14, 2024(Palo Alto Cortex XDR Güvenlik Bildirimi)
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.
- Special conditions such as timing or configuration are required.
If successful
- Confidentiality
- Integrity
- Availability
- Attack vector
- Local
- Attack complexity
- High
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- X
Weakness class (CWE)
CWE-269 · Improper Privilege ManagementCVSS vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:N/R:U/V:D/RE:M/U:Amber
nvd-secondary
Root cause
To simplify setup, a service account is granted broad, cluster-wide permissions. The principle of least privilege is skipped during installation.
The bug in code
The whole CWE-269 classA representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.
Vulnerable
kind: ClusterRolerules: - apiGroups: ["*"] resources: ["*"] verbs: ["*"]Fixed
kind: Rolemetadata: namespace: lodos-systemrules: - apiGroups: ["apps"] resources: ["deployments"] verbs: ["get", "list", "update"]Attack context
MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.
Change log
- Fix✗ → ✓
For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →
References
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.