CVE-2023-0002

Local agent disablement via privileged cytool commands

Published Feb 8, 2023 · Updated Mar 25, 2025

Protection mechanism failure in Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR Agent 5.0 and 7.5 on Windows allows local users to disable or uninstall the agent. The agent's cytool protection mechanism accepts privileged disable and uninstall commands from a low-privileged local account. Local access is required, and successful exploitation interrupts endpoint protection without reported data disclosure or modification.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.29%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Protection mechanism failure in Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR Agent 5.0 and 7.5 on Windows allows local users to disable or uninstall the agent. The agent's cytool protection mechanism accepts privileged disable and uninstall commands from a low-privileged local account. Local access is required, and successful exploitation interrupts endpoint protection without reported data disclosure or modification.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-0002
Published
Feb 8, 2023
Updated
Mar 25, 2025
Vendor
Palo Alto Networks
Product
Cortex XDR Agent
Classifications
CWE-693, T1562.001
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Feb 8, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Mar 25, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=5.0 <5.0.12.22203 changes=[{"at":"5.0.12.22203","status":"unaffected"}]
  2. Affected versionversion=7.5 <7.5.101-CE changes=[{"at":"7.5.101-CE","status":"unaffected"}]

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Palo Alto Networks · Cortex XDR Agentversion=5.0 <5.0.12.22203 changes=[{"at":"5.0.12.22203","status":"unaffected"}]; version=7.5 <7.5.101-CE changes=[{"at":"7.5.101-CE","status":"unaffected"}]

Published CVSS scores

5.5Palo Alto NetworksCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-693Protection Mechanism Failure
T1562.001Impair Defenses: Disable or Modify Tools

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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