CVE-2021-3042

Cortex XDR Agent: Improper Control of User-Controlled File Leads to Local Privilege Escalation

Severity Score

7.8

*CVSS v3.1

Exploit Likelihood

*EPSS

Affected Versions

*CPE

Public Exploits

*Multiple Sources

Exploited in Wild

*KEV

Decision

*SSVC

Descriptions

A local privilege escalation (PE) vulnerability exists in the Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR agent on Windows platforms that enables an authenticated local Windows user to execute programs with SYSTEM privileges. Exploiting this vulnerability requires the user to have file creation privilege in the Windows root directory (such as C:\). This issue impacts: All versions of Cortex XDR agent 6.1 without content update 181 or a later version; All versions of Cortex XDR agent 7.2 without content update 181 or a later version; All versions of Cortex XDR agent 7.3 without content update 181 or a later version. Cortex XDR agent 5.0 versions are not impacted by this issue. Content updates are required to resolve this issue and are automatically applied for the agent.

Se presenta una vulnerabilidad de escalada de privilegios (PE) local en Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR agent en plataformas Windows, que permite a un usuario local de Windows autenticado ejecutar programas con privilegios SYSTEM. Explotando esta vulnerabilidad requiere a un usuario tener privilegios de creación de archivos en el directorio root de Windows (como C:\). Este problema afecta a: Todas las versiones del agente Cortex XDR 6.1 sin la actualización de contenido 181 o una versión posterior; Todas las versiones del agente Cortex XDR 7.2 sin la actualización de contenido 181 o una versión posterior; Todas las versiones del agente Cortex XDR 7.3 sin la actualización de contenido 181 o una versión posterior. Unas versiones del agente Cortex XDR 5.0 no se ven afectadas por este problema. Las actualizaciones de contenido son requeridas para resolver este problema y se aplican automáticamente para el agente

*Credits: Palo Alto Networks thanks Xavier DANEST of Decathlon for discovering and reporting this issue.

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

Low

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

High

Availability

High

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

Low

Authentication

None

Confidentiality

Complete

Integrity

Complete

Availability

Complete

* Common Vulnerability Scoring System

SSVC

Decision:-

Exploitation

Automatable

Tech. Impact

* Organization's Worst-case Scenario

Timeline

2021-01-06 CVE Reserved
2021-07-15 CVE Published
2023-03-08 EPSS Updated
2024-09-17 CVE Updated
---------- Exploited in Wild
---------- KEV Due Date
---------- First Exploit

CWE

CWE-427: Uncontrolled Search Path Element

CAPEC

References (1)

URL	Tag	Source

URL	Date	SRC

URL	Date	SRC

URL	Date	SRC
https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/CVE-2021-3042	2021-07-27

Affected Vendors, Products, and Versions

Vendor		Product				Version		Other		Status
Vendor	Product	Version	Other	Status	<-- -->	Vendor	Product	Version	Other	Status
Paloaltonetworks Search vendor "Paloaltonetworks"	Cortex Xdr Agent Search vendor "Paloaltonetworks" for product "Cortex Xdr Agent"	6.1 Search vendor "Paloaltonetworks" for product "Cortex Xdr Agent" and version "6.1"	-	Affected	in	Microsoft Search vendor "Microsoft"	Windows Search vendor "Microsoft" for product "Windows"	-	-	Safe
Paloaltonetworks Search vendor "Paloaltonetworks"	Cortex Xdr Agent Search vendor "Paloaltonetworks" for product "Cortex Xdr Agent"	7.2 Search vendor "Paloaltonetworks" for product "Cortex Xdr Agent" and version "7.2"	-	Affected	in	Microsoft Search vendor "Microsoft"	Windows Search vendor "Microsoft" for product "Windows"	-	-	Safe
Paloaltonetworks Search vendor "Paloaltonetworks"	Cortex Xdr Agent Search vendor "Paloaltonetworks" for product "Cortex Xdr Agent"	7.2 Search vendor "Paloaltonetworks" for product "Cortex Xdr Agent" and version "7.2"	content_update149	Affected	in	Microsoft Search vendor "Microsoft"	Windows Search vendor "Microsoft" for product "Windows"	-	-	Safe
Paloaltonetworks Search vendor "Paloaltonetworks"	Cortex Xdr Agent Search vendor "Paloaltonetworks" for product "Cortex Xdr Agent"	7.2 Search vendor "Paloaltonetworks" for product "Cortex Xdr Agent" and version "7.2"	content_update150	Affected	in	Microsoft Search vendor "Microsoft"	Windows Search vendor "Microsoft" for product "Windows"	-	-	Safe
Paloaltonetworks Search vendor "Paloaltonetworks"	Cortex Xdr Agent Search vendor "Paloaltonetworks" for product "Cortex Xdr Agent"	7.3 Search vendor "Paloaltonetworks" for product "Cortex Xdr Agent" and version "7.3"	-	Affected	in	Microsoft Search vendor "Microsoft"	Windows Search vendor "Microsoft" for product "Windows"	-	-	Safe