CVE-2021-3038 GlobalProtect App: Windows VPN kernel driver denial of service (DoS)

What is CVE-2021-3038?

CVE-2021-3038 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Palo Alto Networks GlobalProtect App, published on 20 Apr 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

A denial-of-service (DoS) vulnerability in Palo Alto Networks GlobalProtect app on Windows systems allows a limited Windows user to send specifically-crafted input to the GlobalProtect app that results in a Windows blue screen of death (BSOD) error. This issue impacts: GlobalProtect app 5.1 versions earlier than GlobalProtect app 5.1.8; GlobalProtect app 5.2 versions earlier than GlobalProtect app 5.2.4.

Weakness: CWE-248, CWE-20

Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-3038?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Paloaltonetworks Globalprotect.

How do I fix CVE-2021-3038?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-3038 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2021-3038 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-3038 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Palo Alto Networks GlobalProtect App

• CVE-2025-4232 GlobalProtect: Authenticated Code Injection Through Wildcard on macOS High 8.5
• CVE-2021-3057 GlobalProtect App: Buffer Overflow Vulnerability When Connecting to Portal or Gateway High 8.1
• CVE-2023-0009 GlobalProtect App: Local Privilege Escalation (PE) Vulnerability High 7.8
• CVE-2022-0016 GlobalProtect App: Privilege Escalation Vulnerability When Using Connect Before Logon High 7.4
• CVE-2025-0120 GlobalProtect App: Local Privilege Escalation (PE) Vulnerability High 7.1

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as GHSA-9x9w-5fmf-qmhj.