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Threats / Palo Alto Networks / CVE-2024-0012
CVE-2024-0012 · EUVD no mirror located · GCVE no mirror located Verified 2026-08-04

Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS vulnerability

Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS authentication bypass in web management interface allows unauthenticated access to firewall and VPN concentrator administration.

Verdict

Today item, not a backlog item.

Critical authentication bypass affecting PAN-OS management interfaces. High exploitation activity and ransomware deployment observed. Attackers gain direct administrative control without credentials, enabling full system compromise.

CISA KEV Yes · 2024-11-185Ransomware use Flagged5EPSS 0.99698 (verify live)6Exploit Weaponized · public PoC7CVSS 9.33CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Impact: total4
01

Is it exploitable?

— the evidence, ranked above the score
Exploit 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
629 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 2024-11-18), flagged for known ransomware use.
CISA KEV ↗Confirmed
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.99698 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 9.3 (CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:L/SI:N/SA:N/AU:N/R:U/V:C/RE:H/U:Red) · Affected: Palo Alto Networks, PAN-OS. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CNA-assigned (CVE.org), version 4.0, set at disclosure.
CVE.org ↗Reported
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-306 Missing Authentication — weakness family: Authentication.CWE — CNA-assigned (CVE.org); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
CVE.org ↗Reported
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.
CISA-ADP ↗Reported
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog the same day 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.
WeaknessCWE-306 · Missing AuthenticationAuthentication
02

Who’s exploiting it?

— attribution turns risk into urgency
Attribution 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 board
1

Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1

Attacker
I bypass authentication on the PAN-OS web management interface without valid credentials.
Business
Administrative access to critical network infrastructure is compromised, enabling unauthorized configuration changes and data exfiltration.
2

Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2

Attacker
I gain unrestricted access to firewall and VPN concentrator settings and logs.
Business
Network segmentation and access controls are neutralized, allowing lateral movement and persistence across the infrastructure.
3

Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3

Attacker
I deploy ransomware payloads or establish command-and-control channels through the compromised management interface.
Business
Operations are disrupted by encryption of critical systems; ransom demands and recovery costs accumulate while business continuity is lost.
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

Coverage & confidence

— what we know, and what we don’t

Established (cited)

  • KEV listing (CISA)
  • Ransomware-use flag (CISA)
  • EPSS probability (FIRST)
  • Weaponized exploit available (VulnCheck)
  • 629 reported-exploitation source(s)
  • CVSS 9.3 — CNA-assigned (CVE.org)
  • CISA SSVC triage disposition (CVE.org ADP)
  • CWE weakness mapping — CNA-assigned (CVE.org)
  • Public exploit availability
  • Catalogued by palo_alto (CNA)
  • Named finder/reporter credit (CVE.org)
  • Coverage gaps — stated, not hidden

  • No EUVD / GCVE mirror in feed — single-authority dependency for the identifier.
  • EPSS & exposure are time-varying; verify live at the source.
  • Threat-actor attribution not established from feed data — absence of a name is not absence of compromise.
  • Disclosure & credit2