CVE-2026-0232

Administrator-level security-agent disablement

Published Apr 13, 2026 · Updated Apr 13, 2026

Protection-mechanism failure in Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR Agent on Windows allows local users with administrator privileges to disable the agent. Palo Alto Networks has not published the affected component or the operation that mishandles the agent's protection state. Administrator privileges are required, and successful exploitation stops endpoint defenses so malware can act without Cortex XDR detection.

CVSS severity6.7
Medium
EPSS probability0.15%
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 on Windows allows local users with administrator privileges to disable the agent. Palo Alto Networks has not published the affected component or the operation that mishandles the agent's protection state. Administrator privileges are required, and successful exploitation stops endpoint defenses so malware can act without Cortex XDR detection.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-0232
Published
Apr 13, 2026
Updated
Apr 13, 2026
Vendor
Palo Alto Networks
Product
Cortex XDR Agent
Classifications
CWE-15, CAPEC-578, T1562.001
Attack vector
local
Privileges
admin

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Apr 13, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Apr 13, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

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

  1. Affected versionversion=7.9-CE <7.9-CE-CU-2120 changes=[{"at":"7.9-CE","status":"unaffected"}]
  2. Affected versionversion=8.3-CE <8.3-CE-CU-2120 changes=[{"at":"8.3-CE","status":"unaffected"}]
  3. Affected versionversion=8.7-CE <8.7.101-CE changes=[{"at":"8.7.101-CE","status":"unaffected"}]
  4. Affected versionversion=8.9 <8.9.1 changes=[{"at":"8.9.1","status":"unaffected"}]
  5. Affected versionversion=9.0 <9.0.1 changes=[{"at":"9.0.1","status":"unaffected"}]

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesadmin

What is affected?

Palo Alto Networks · Cortex XDR Agentversion=7.9-CE <7.9-CE-CU-2120 changes=[{"at":"7.9-CE","status":"unaffected"}]; version=8.3-CE <8.3-CE-CU-2120 changes=[{"at":"8.3-CE","status":"unaffected"}]; version=8.7-CE <8.7.101-CE changes=[{"at":"8.7.101-CE","status":"unaffected"}]; version=8.9 <8.9.1 changes=[{"at":"8.9.1","status":"unaffected"}]; version=9.0 <9.0.1 changes=[{"at":"9.0.1","status":"unaffected"}]

Published CVSS scores

4.0Palo Alto NetworksCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U
6.7Palo Alto NetworksCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

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
Privilegesadmin
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-15External Control of System or Configuration Setting
CAPEC-578Disable Security Software
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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