GlobalProtect App: Privilege Escalation Vulnerability When Using Connect Before Logon

published 2022-02-10 4 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2022-15237

cvss: 7.4; version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 0.2%; EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 10%
public exploits: 0; none known

An improper handling of exceptional conditions vulnerability exists within the Connect Before Logon feature of the Palo Alto Networks GlobalProtect app that enables a local attacker to escalate to SYSTEM or root privileges when authenticating with Connect Before Logon under certain circumstances. This issue impacts GlobalProtect app 5.2 versions earlier than GlobalProtect app 5.2.9 on Windows and MacOS. This issue does not affect the GlobalProtect app on other platforms.

Patch / fix

fixed in 1

Palo Alto Networks GlobalProtect App 5.2.9

Exploit prediction

0.21% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 10% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CNA	3.1	7.4	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD	3.1	7.8	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD	2.0	6.9	AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Affected products

Palo Alto Networks GlobalProtect App

Classification

Weakness

CWE-703 Improper Check or Handling of Exceptional Conditions
CWE-755 Improper Handling of Exceptional Conditions

References

security.paloaltonetworks.com /CVE-2022-0016
vendor-advisory

Sources

CVE List CVE-2022-0016
NVD CVE-2022-0016

Fencer Vulns 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.

Summary