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Fencer Intel
medium 4.2

CVE-2020-1988 json

Global Protect Agent: Local privilege escalation due to an unquoted search path vulnerability

published 6y ago modified 4mo ago also EUVD-2020-12778

cvss
4.2
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.4%
EPSS 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 31%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

An unquoted search path vulnerability in the Windows release of Global Protect Agent allows an authenticated local user with file creation privileges on the root of the OS disk (C:\) or to Program Files directory to gain system privileges. This issue affects Palo Alto Networks GlobalProtect Agent 5.0 versions before 5.0.5; 4.1 versions before 4.1.13 on Windows;

Patch / fix

  • Palo Alto Networks Global Protect Agent 4.1.13, 5.0.5

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Exploit prediction

0.37% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 31% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 4.2 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
NVD 3.1 6.7 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 7.2 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Affected products

  • Palo Alto Networks Global Protect Agent

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-428 Unquoted Search Path or Element

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.