{"id":"CVE-2021-3041","url":"https://www.cyber-defence.io/tools/cve/CVE-2021-3041","generatedAt":"2026-10-27T21:19:08.016Z","title":"A local privilege escalation 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.","description":"A local privilege escalation 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. This requires the user to have the privilege to create files in the Windows root directory or to manipulate key registry values. This issue impacts: Cortex XDR agent 5.0 versions earlier than Cortex XDR agent 5.0.11; Cortex XDR agent 6.1 versions earlier than Cortex XDR agent 6.1.8; Cortex XDR agent 7.2 versions earlier than Cortex XDR agent 7.2.3; All versions of Cortex XDR agent 7.2 without content update release 171 or a later version.","published":"2021-06-10T13:15:08.000Z","lastModified":"2026-06-17T04:04:37.000Z","status":"Modified","sourceIdentifier":"psirt@paloaltonetworks.com","cvss":{"version":"3.1","score":7.8,"severity":"HIGH","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"},"cwe":["CWE-427"],"affected":["paloaltonetworks/cortex xdr agent"],"epss":{"score":0.00248,"percentile":0.15963,"date":"2026-10-26","history":[]},"kev":{"listed":false},"exploits":{"count":0,"verified":false,"firstPublished":null,"source":"Exploit-DB (https://gitlab.com/exploit-database/exploitdb)","entries":[]},"verdict":{"level":"high","text":"High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.25%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit."},"changes":[],"references":[{"url":"https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/CVE-2021-3041","tags":["Vendor Advisory"],"source":"psirt@paloaltonetworks.com"},{"url":"https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/CVE-2021-3041","tags":["Vendor Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"}],"sources":{"nvd":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-3041","epss":"https://www.first.org/epss/","kev":"https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog","exploitdb":"https://www.exploit-db.com/"},"licence":"CC BY 4.0 — link back to the CVE Explorer if you publish the results; upstream data remains subject to its own terms."}