CVE-2021-3041: Palo Alto Networks Cortex Xdr Agent

High severity, CVSS 7.8. EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

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.

Affected products

• Palo Alto Networks Cortex Xdr Agent: from 5.0, before 5.0.11 (fixed in 5.0.11); from 6.1, before 6.1.8 (fixed in 6.1.8); from 7.2, before 7.2.3 (fixed in 7.2.3)

Published 2021-06-10. Last modified 2026-06-17.