CVE-2018-10140 in PAN-OS
Summary
by MITRE
The PAN-OS Management Web Interface in Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS 8.1.2 and earlier may allow an authenticated user to shut down all management sessions, resulting in all logged in users to be redirected to the login page. PAN-OS 6.1, PAN-OS 7.1 and PAN-OS 8.0 are NOT affected.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/02/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-10140 represents a critical session management flaw within the Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS management web interface. This issue affects versions 8.1.2 and earlier, creating a significant security risk by allowing authenticated users to exploit a weakness in the system's session handling mechanisms. The flaw specifically targets the management web interface, which serves as the primary administrative access point for configuring and managing firewall policies and security controls. Organizations relying on these affected PAN-OS versions face potential operational disruptions and unauthorized access risks through this vulnerability.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from improper session validation and management within the web interface component of PAN-OS. When an authenticated user leverages this flaw, they can trigger a system-wide session termination event that affects all active management sessions across the device. This occurs through manipulation of session handling parameters or specific API calls that should be restricted to administrative privileges but are instead accessible to authenticated users. The vulnerability essentially allows for a denial of service attack against the management interface, where legitimate administrators lose access to their sessions and must re-authenticate to continue managing the device. This behavior aligns with CWE-305 authentication bypass weaknesses and represents a failure in proper access control implementation.
The operational impact of CVE-2018-10140 extends beyond simple service disruption, potentially enabling attackers to gain unauthorized access to network security configurations. When all management sessions are terminated, legitimate administrators face immediate operational disruption as they are redirected to the login page, effectively locking themselves out of their own security infrastructure. This situation creates a window of opportunity for malicious actors who may have already gained authenticated access to the system, as they can exploit this weakness to maintain persistent access while legitimate administrators are temporarily unable to manage the device. The vulnerability creates a scenario where an attacker can effectively disable administrative access and potentially escalate their privileges by leveraging the session termination to avoid detection or to establish additional access points.
Organizations should prioritize immediate remediation by upgrading to PAN-OS versions 8.1.3 or later, which contain the necessary patches to address this session management vulnerability. The mitigation strategy should include implementing additional monitoring of management interface access patterns to detect unusual session termination events that may indicate exploitation attempts. Network security teams should also review and strengthen their access control policies to ensure that only authorized personnel have management access to critical infrastructure devices. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper session management in web applications and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078 for valid accounts and T1499 for endpoint disruption. Regular vulnerability assessments and security audits should be conducted to identify similar session management weaknesses in other network infrastructure components, as this type of flaw can potentially exist in various systems that rely on web-based management interfaces for administrative functions.