{"id":"CVE-2020-2016","aliases":["EUVD-2020-22044","GHSA-phhf-m45q-vcxw"],"status":"published","title":"PAN-OS: Temporary file race condition vulnerability in PAN-OS leads to local privilege escalation","description":"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.","severity":{"version":"3.1","score":7,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","level":"high","assessor":"cna","from":"cve"},"epss":{"day":"2026-11-10","score":0.00568,"percentile":0.4741,"model":"v2026.06.15"},"facts":{"in_kev":false,"known_exploited":false,"public_exploit":false,"fix_available":false},"cwes":["CWE-362","CWE-377"],"published":"2020-05-13T19:07:14Z","modified":"2026-06-17T03:11:38Z","products":[{"vendor":"palo alto networks","product":"pan-os"},{"vendor":"paloaltonetworks","product":"pan-os"}],"references":[{"url":"https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/CVE-2020-2016","tags":["x_refsource_MISC","x_transferred","Vendor Advisory"]},{"url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-2016"},{"url":"https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-phhf-m45q-vcxw"}],"sources":{"cve":[{"id":"CVE-2020-2016","title":"PAN-OS: Temporary file race condition vulnerability in PAN-OS leads to local privilege escalation","description":"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.","status":"published","published":"2020-05-13T19:07:14.7Z","modified":"2024-09-16T23:31:31.207Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":7,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","level":"high","assessor":"cna"}],"cwes":["CWE-377"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T14:35:51.206854Z"}],"euvd":[{"id":"EUVD-2020-22044","description":"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.","status":"published","published":"2020-05-13T19:07:14Z","modified":"2024-09-16T23:31:31Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":7,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","level":"high"}],"updated_at":"2026-11-03T00:54:49.761845Z"}],"ghsa":[{"id":"GHSA-phhf-m45q-vcxw","title":"A race condition due to insecure creation of a file in a temporary directory vulnerability in PAN...","description":"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.","status":"published","published":"2022-05-24T17:17:48Z","modified":"2023-01-29T05:02:38Z","updated_at":"2026-11-02T14:45:08.066233Z"}],"nvd":[{"id":"CVE-2020-2016","description":"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.","status":"published","published":"2020-05-13T19:15:14.317Z","modified":"2026-06-17T03:11:38.31Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":7,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","level":"high","assessor":"secondary"},{"version":"3.1","score":7,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","level":"high","assessor":"primary"},{"version":"2.0","score":8.5,"vector":"AV:N/AC:M/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C","level":"high","assessor":"primary"}],"cwes":["CWE-377","CWE-362"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T14:06:00.784809Z"}]}}