Threats / Palo Alto Networks / CVE-2017-15944
CVE-2017-15944
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS vulnerability
Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS contains multiple unspecified vulnerabilities that enable remote code execution when chained together.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
Active exploitation in the wild with high exploitability (EPSS 0.94). Chained vulnerabilities in PAN-OS allow unauthenticated remote code execution, posing critical risk to firewall infrastructure and network perimeter security.
CISA KEV Yes · 2022-08-184EPSS 0.9834 (verify live)5Exploit Weaponized · public PoC6CVSS 9.8 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Impact: total3
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreExploit available
Fully weaponized — public exploit code is cataloged for this vulnerability.We link the existence of the exploit; we do not host or redistribute payloads.
Reported exploitation
759 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-08-18).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.9834 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 9.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) · Affected: Palo Alto Networks, PAN-OS. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CISA-assigned via the ADP container (CVE.org), version 3.1; the CNA left no metrics, so CISA's own score is used ahead of NVD.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Technical Impact: totalCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 1711 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
Public exploit available
Public exploit tooling is catalogued for this CVE (a functional/weaponized public exploit). Catalog entries: Metasploit module, nuclei template. We link the catalog page(s) only — no payload or code is hosted or restated here.Link, never host — the catalog page is the source; basicsecurity.net does not redistribute payloads.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I identify and chain multiple PAN-OS vulnerabilities to bypass authentication or input validation controls.
Business
Firewall perimeter defenses are compromised, enabling direct network intrusion and lateral movement into protected infrastructure.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I execute arbitrary code on the compromised PAN-OS device with firewall privileges.
Business
Attackers gain control of critical security infrastructure, allowing traffic inspection bypass, data exfiltration, and network manipulation.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I establish persistence and pivot through the network using the compromised firewall as an internal foothold.
Business
Enterprise network segmentation fails; attackers access internal systems, databases, and sensitive assets behind the firewall.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05