# CVE-2020-2020: Cortex XDR Agent: Exceptional condition denial-of-service (DoS)

> A local authenticated user can prevent the Cortex XDR Agent from starting by creating specific files, causing a persistent denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:** 9 Dec 2020
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-rj77-cp45-4q8h

## What is CVE-2020-2020?

CVE-2020-2020 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR Agent, published on 9 Dec 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An improper handling of exceptional conditions vulnerability in Cortex XDR Agent allows a local authenticated Windows user to create files in the software's internal program directory that prevents the Cortex XDR Agent from starting. The exceptional condition is persistent and prevents Cortex XDR Agent from starting when the software or machine is restarted. This issue impacts: Cortex XDR Agent 5.0 versions earlier than 5.0.10; Cortex XDR Agent 6.1 versions earlier than 6.1.7; Cortex XDR Agent 7.0 versions earlier than 7.0.3; Cortex XDR Agent 7.1 versions earlier than 7.1.2.

Weakness: CWE-755 (Improper Handling of Exceptional Conditions)

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

It affects 1 product.


Products: Paloaltonetworks Cortex Xdr Agent.

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

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

## Is CVE-2020-2020 being exploited?

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

## Other vulnerabilities in Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR Agent

- [CVE-2022-0015](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0015/): Cortex XDR Agent: An Uncontrolled Search Path Element Leads to Local Privilege Escalation (PE) Vulnerability (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2021-3042](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-3042/): Cortex XDR Agent: Improper Control of User-Controlled File Leads to Local Privilege Escalation (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2021-3041](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-3041/): Cortex XDR Agent: Improper control of user-controlled file leads to local privilege escalation (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2020-2049](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-2049/): Cortex XDR Agent: Improper control of loaded DLL leads to local privilege escalation (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2024-5909](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-5909/): Cortex XDR Agent: Local Windows User Can Disable the Agent (medium 6.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

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

What it is: CVE-2020-2020 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR Agent, published on 9 Dec 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-2020-2020 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR Agent. 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-2020-2020/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-2020/index.md)
```

## Sources

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

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