CVE-2020-2016
HIGHDescription
A race condition due to insecure creation of a file in a temporary directory vulnerability in PAN-OS allows for root privilege escalation from a limited linux user account. This allows an attacker who has escaped the restricted shell as a low privilege administrator, possibly by exploiting another vulnerability, to escalate privileges to become root user. 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 versions of PAN-OS 8.0.
How to fix
TridentStack Control can deploy fixes like this automatically across your Windows, macOS, and Linux fleet. See how it works
Remediation is compiled from vendor and distribution security advisories. Always confirm against the linked source for your exact version and platform.
CVSS v3 Vector
Exploitability
Impact
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Exploit Intelligence
Moderate risk: more likely to be exploited than 45% of all known CVEs.
References
Related Vulnerabilities
Other CWE-377 vulnerabilities, ordered by exploit likelihood. View all
| CVE | Severity | CVSS | EPSS | Exploited | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2015-5224 | Critical | 9.8 | 4.5% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2026-20204 | High | 7.1 | 3.3% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2018-3710 | High | 7.8 | 2.9% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2017-16024 | Medium | 6.5 | 2.4% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2012-2666 | Critical | 9.8 | 1.9% | - | - |
| CVE-2018-16494 | High | 8.8 | 1.9% | - | Fix |
Common questions
How do I fix CVE-2020-2016?
Upgrade pan-os to 9.0.6 or later.
Is CVE-2020-2016 being actively exploited?
Not that we know of. CVE-2020-2016 is not in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. Its EPSS score of 0.57% is the estimated probability that it will be exploited in the next 30 days. That is higher than 45% of all scored CVEs.
How severe is CVE-2020-2016?
CVE-2020-2016 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.0, rated high. CVSS rates the technical impact if the vulnerability is exploited, not how likely that is, so weigh it alongside the exploit-prediction score when you decide what to patch first.
What does CVE-2020-2016 affect?
Published advisories record a fix for pan-os (NVD). Only products with a sourced advisory are listed, so treat this as what we can cite rather than a complete inventory.
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Markdown
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This product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2024-11-21.