CVE-2020-1981
A predictable temporary filename vulnerability in PAN-OS allows local privilege escalation.
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.36%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
A predictable temporary filename vulnerability in PAN-OS allows local privilege escalation. This issue allows a local attacker who bypassed the restricted shell to execute commands as a low privileged user and gain root access on the PAN-OS hardware or virtual appliance. This issue affects only PAN-OS 8.1 versions earlier than PAN-OS 8.1.13. This issue does not affect PAN-OS 7.1, PAN-OS 9.0, or later PAN-OS versions.
- CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 0.36% probability · 30th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-377, CWE-668
- Affected
- paloaltonetworks/pan-os
- Source
- psirt@paloaltonetworks.com
EPSS 0.4% since 26 October 2026; no change recorded yet. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
References
- https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/CVE-2020-1981Issue Tracking, Vendor Advisory
- https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/CVE-2020-1981Issue Tracking, Vendor Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.