A problem with a detection mechanism in the Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR agent on Windows devices enables a user with Windows non-administrative privileges to disable the agent. This issue may be leveraged by malware to disable the Cortex XDR agent and then to perform malicious activity.
This vulnerability carries a MEDIUM severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.5, requiring local system access to exploit with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction requiring only low-level privileges . The vulnerability impacts and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 2 products from paloaltonetworks, from microsoft organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.
Reported in 2024, this vulnerability emerged during an era marked by increased sophistication in supply chain attacks, cloud infrastructure vulnerabilities, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) security challenges. Security practices during this period emphasized zero-trust architectures, container security, and API protection.
2024-10-09T17:15:20.770
2024-10-15T18:38:25.647
Analyzed
CVSSv3.1: 5.5 (MEDIUM)
| Type | Vendor | Product | Version/Range | Vulnerable? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Application | paloaltonetworks | cortex_xdr_agent | < 7.9.102 | Yes |
| Application | paloaltonetworks | cortex_xdr_agent | 8.3.0 | Yes |
| Application | paloaltonetworks | cortex_xdr_agent | 8.4.0 | Yes |
| Operating System | microsoft | windows | - | No |
SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For paloaltonetworks's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.