CVE-2020-2049: Palo Alto Networks Cortex Xdr Agent

High severity, CVSS 7.8. EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

A local privilege escalation vulnerability exists in Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR Agent on the Windows platform that allows 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. This issue impacts: All versions of Cortex XDR Agent 7.1 with content update 149 and earlier versions; All versions of Cortex XDR Agent 7.2 with content update 149 and earlier versions.

Affected products

• Palo Alto Networks Cortex Xdr Agent: from 7.1.1, up to and including 7.1.3; from 7.2.1, up to and including 7.2.2; version 7.1 only; version 7.2 only

Published 2020-12-09. Last modified 2026-06-17.