IRONSMITHINTEL
CRITICALCVSS9.8
|
Actively Exploited
|CISA KEV|CVE-2024-0012|Auth: none — unauthenticated|Reboot: required|Manual only

Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS Management Interface Authentication Bypass Vulnerability (CVE-2024-0012)

Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS contains an authentication bypass vulnerability in the web-based management interface for several PAN-OS products, including firewalls and VPN concentrators.

Published Nov 18, 2024 · Updated May 17, 2026
Why patchRisk explained in plain English
Worst-case scenarioIf unpatched

A remote attacker, without authentication, can achieve full data confidentiality loss, arbitrary modification of data, complete denial of service or system unavailability. CISA has confirmed use of this vulnerability in known ransomware campaigns — treat as high priority for remediation. Federal agencies are required to remediate by 2024-12-09 under CISA BOD 22-01.

How the attack worksNo clicks needed

This is a Missing Authentication for Critical Function (CWE-306) vulnerability in Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS. An authentication bypass in Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS software enables an unauthenticated attacker with network access to the management web interface to gain PAN-OS administrator privileges to perform administrative actions, tamper with the configuration, or exploit other authenticated privilege escalation vulnerabilities like CVE-2024-9474 https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/CVE-2024-9474 . The risk of this issue is greatly reduced if you secure access to the management web interface by restricting access to only trusted internal IP addresses according to our recommended  best practice deployment guidelines https://live.paloaltonetworks.com/t5/community-blogs/tips-amp-tricks-how-to-secure-the-management-access-of-your-palo/ba-p/464431 . This issue is applicable only to PAN-OS 10.2, PAN-OS 11.0, PAN-OS 11.1, and PAN-OS 11.2 software. Cloud NGFW and Prisma Access are not impacted by this vulnerability. Exploitation requires remote network access, low attack complexity, no authentication required, and no user interaction required.

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Phishing link

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Malicious file

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Server compromised

Am I affected?Quick check

Probably yes if any of these apply:

Network Security Team
Firewall Administrators
IT Security
Running pan-os: 10.2.0, 10.2.1, 10.2.2, 10.2.3, 10.2.4, 10.2.5, 10.2.6, 10.2.7, 10.2.8, 10.2.9, 10.2.10, 10.2.11, 10.2.12, 11.0.0, 11.0.1, 11.0.2, 11.0.3, 11.0.4, 11.0.5, 11.0.6, 11.1.0, 11.1.1, 11.1.2, 11.1.3, 11.1.4, 11.1.5, 11.2.0, 11.2.1, 11.2.2, 11.2.3, 11.2.4
Real-world incidentsWhat we've seen

Used in known ransomware campaigns. Threat-research write-up: https://labs.watchtowr.com/pots-and-pans-aka-an-sslvpn-palo-alto-pan-os-cve-2024-0012-and-cve-2024-9474/

How to patch

Manual remediation steps

1
Identify affected hosts: query inventory for network-security installs in scope.
2
Apply the vendor security update referenced in CVE-2024-0012's advisory. No specific KB/version is encoded yet — consult the linked MSRC/vendor URL.
3
Verify the fix per the vendor's published verification steps.
4
Document the remediation in your change ticket and re-scan with your vulnerability scanner to confirm closure.
PowerShell automationComing soon

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