PAN-OS: Authentication bypass vulnerability in GlobalProtect SSL VPN client certificate verification

published 2020-11-12 5y ago modified 2026-06-17 4mo ago also EUVD-2020-22076

cvss: 8.2; version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 1.0%; EPSS 1.0% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 64%
public exploits: 0; none known

An authentication bypass vulnerability exists in the GlobalProtect SSL VPN component of Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS software that allows an attacker to bypass all client certificate checks with an invalid certificate. A remote attacker can successfully authenticate as any user and gain access to restricted VPN network resources when the gateway or portal is configured to rely entirely on certificate-based authentication. Impacted features that use SSL VPN with client certificate verification are: GlobalProtect Gateway, GlobalProtect Portal, GlobalProtect Clientless VPN In configurations where client certificate verification is used in conjunction with other authentication methods, the protections added by the certificate check are ignored as a result of this issue. This issue impacts: PAN-OS 8.1 versions earlier than PAN-OS 8.1.17; PAN-OS 9.0 versions earlier than PAN-OS 9.0.11; PAN-OS 9.1 versions earlier than PAN-OS 9.1.5; PAN-OS 10.0 versions earlier than PAN-OS 10.0.1.

Patch / fix

fixed in 1

Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS 8.1.17, 9.0.11, 9.1.5, 10.0.1

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Exploit prediction

1.03% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 64% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CNA	3.1	8.2	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N
NVD	3.1	8.2	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N
NVD	2.0	6.4	AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N

Affected products

Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS

Classification

Weakness

CWE-285 Improper Authorization
CWE-287 Improper Authentication

Technology feeds

Palo Alto PAN-OS rss critical rss

References

security.paloaltonetworks.com /CVE-2020-2050
vendor-advisory

Sources

CVE List CVE-2020-2050
NVD CVE-2020-2050

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