Cortex XDR Agent: Improper Control of User-Controlled File Leads to Local Privilege Escalation
Published Jul 15, 2021
7.8
HIGHCVSS 3.1
EPSS 0.25%
Description
A local privilege escalation (PE) vulnerability exists in the Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR agent on Windows platforms that enables an authenticated local Windows user to execute programs with SYSTEM privileges. Exploiting this vulnerability requires the user to have file creation privilege in the Windows root directory (such as C:\). This issue impacts: All versions of Cortex XDR agent 6.1 without content update 181 or a later version; All versions of Cortex XDR agent 7.2 without content update 181 or a later version; All versions of Cortex XDR agent 7.3 without content update 181 or a later version. Cortex XDR agent 5.0 versions are not impacted by this issue. Content updates are required to resolve this issue and are automatically applied for the agent.
Affected products
-
- Version 6.1.* without content update 181 or laterStatusaffectedConstraints-
- Version 7.2.* without content update 181 or laterStatusaffectedConstraints-
- Version 7.3.* without content update 181 or laterStatusaffectedConstraints-
- Version 6.1.* with content update 181 or laterStatusunaffectedConstraints-
- Version 7.2.* with content update 181 or laterStatusunaffectedConstraints-
- Version 7.3.* with content update 181 or laterStatusunaffectedConstraints-
- Version
Default status is the baseline for the product, each version can override it (e.g. patched versions marked unaffected).
| Vendor | Product | Default status | Versions | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palo Alto Networks | Cortex XDR Agent | n/a |
|
- 6.1
- 7.2
- 7.2
- 7.2
- 7.3
No data.
No Red Hat product state for this CVE.
No package ranges for this CVE.
Remediation
Vendor solution
This issue is fixed in Cortex XDR agent 6.1, Cortex XDR agent 7.2, Cortex XDR agent 7.3, and all later Cortex XDR agent versions with content update 181 or later content updates.
Content updates are required to resolve this issue and are automatically applied for the agent.
Metrics
No CVSS v4.0 score for this CVE.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
No CVSS v3.0 score for this CVE.
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
This CVE is not in the KEV list.
No CISA SSVC assessment for this CVE yet.
Estimated probability of exploitation in the wild in the next 30 days (FIRST EPSS). As of Oct 1, 2026.
Score over time
2021–2026- EPSS v1
- EPSS v5
- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
- EPSS v4
Percentile over time
- EPSS v1
- EPSS v5
- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
- EPSS v4
Table of values (13 key points)
Flat stretches are collapsed; showing up to 120 newest points.
| Date | Score | Percentile | Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2026 | 0.25% (0.00248) | 14.54th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Jun 15, 2026 | 0.25% (0.00248) | 15.81th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Mar 17, 2025 | 0.03% (0.00035) | 6.78th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Dec 12, 2024 | 0.04% (0.00042) | 5.07th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 7, 2023 | 0.04% (0.00042) | 5.63th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 6, 2023 | 0.89% (0.00885) | 27.89th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 4, 2022 | 1.40% (0.01404) | 49.02th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 3, 2022 | 10.21% (0.10210) | 87.43th | v1 |
| Jan 6, 2022 | 10.21% (0.10210) | 87.29th | v1 |
| Jan 5, 2022 | 2.47% (0.02472) | 79.23th | v1 |
| Jul 28, 2021 | 2.47% (0.02472) | 0.00th | v1 |
| Jul 27, 2021 | 0.22% (0.00221) | 0.00th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Jul 16, 2021 | 0.22% (0.00221) | 0.00th | v1 |
References (1)
- https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/CVE-2021-3042 x_refsource_MISCVendor Advisory
| Link | Providers | Tags |
|---|---|---|
| https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/CVE-2021-3042 | x_refsource_MISCVendor Advisory |
Change history (0)
No recorded changes yet.