# CVE-2020-2016: PAN-OS: Temporary file race condition vulnerability in PAN-OS leads to local privilege escalation

> A race condition in PAN-OS allows local attackers to escalate privileges to root after escaping a restricted shell.

- **Severity:** High 7.0 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 13 May 2020
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-phhf-m45q-vcxw

## What is CVE-2020-2016?

CVE-2020-2016 is a high-severity vulnerability in Paloaltonetworks Pan-Os, published on 13 May 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official 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.

Weakness: CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization), CWE-377 (DEPRECATED: Insecure Temporary File)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-2016?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Paloaltonetworks Pan-Os.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-2016?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-2016 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-2016 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-2016 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Paloaltonetworks Pan-Os

- [CVE-2024-3400](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-3400/): Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS Command Injection (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-2021](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-2021/): Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS Authentication Bypass (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2017-15944](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-15944/): Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-0300](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-0300/): Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS Out-of-bounds Write (critical 9.3, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-0012](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-0012/): Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS Management Interface Authentication Bypass (critical 9.3, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-2016 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-2016 is a high-severity vulnerability in Paloaltonetworks Pan-Os, published on 13 May 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-2016 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Paloaltonetworks Pan-Os. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-2016/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-2016/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-2016
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-2016
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-2016

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-2016/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.