CVE-2024-5921 GlobalProtect App: Insufficient Certificate Validation Leads to Privilege Escalation
🔗 CVE IDs covered (1)
📋 Description
An insufficient certificate validation issue in the Palo Alto Networks GlobalProtect app enables attackers to connect the GlobalProtect app to arbitrary servers. This can enable a local non-administrative operating system user or an attacker on the same subnet to install malicious root certificates on the endpoint and subsequently install malicious software signed by the malicious root certificates on that endpoint. Please subscribe to our RSS feed (https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/rss.xml) to be alerted to new updates to this and other advisories.
🎯 Affected products1
- GlobalProtect App
✅ Remediation
This issue is fixed in GlobalProtect app 6.2.1-c31 on Linux, GlobalProtect app 6.2.6 on Windows, GlobalProtect app 6.2.6-c857 on macOS, GlobalProtect app 6.3.2 on Windows and macOS, and all later GlobalProtect app versions. Additional fixes are under development and will be made available for the remaining platforms (Linux, iOS, and Android). The fix for this vulnerability requires three steps: 1. Ensure that all of your GlobalProtect portals use TLS certificate chains that meet the criteria specified in the "FIPS-CC Certification Validation" table in our documentation (https://docs.paloaltonetworks.com/globalprotect/10-1/globalprotect-admin/certifications/resolve-fips-cc-mode-issues). 2. Ensure that the TLS certificate chains used by the GlobalProtect portals are added to the root certificate store in your operating system. 3. Install a fixed version of GlobalProtect using one of the deployment options below. This setting enforces strict X.509v3 verification checks on the certificate provided by the GlobalProtect portal. Note: Prisma Access customers using portals with a *.gpcloudservice.com domain name already have valid TLS certificate chains. The root certificate for these portals is from GoDaddy, which is trusted by default in Windows, macOS, RHEL, Ubuntu, iOS, and Android. Therefore, Prisma Access customers using a GlobalProtect portal with a *.gpcloudservice.com domain name should only need to perform step 3 above. Important: If your GlobalProtect portals do not use valid X.509V3 TLS certificate chains, this will result in TLS verification failures. To generate a GlobalProtect portal certificate that can be used with a fixed version of GlobalProtect app, refer to the first "FIPS-CC Certification Validation" table in our documentation (https://docs.paloaltonetworks.com/globalprotect/10-1/globalprotect-admin/certifications/resolve-fips-cc-mode-issues). Warning: Performance Concern: Some customers reported problems connecting to Portals and Gateways when this solution was implemented in certain situations. This is due to certificate providers that rate limit requests for Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) and certificate revocation list (CRL) checks. This happens when multiple users connect to GlobalProtect Portals from a single public IP (such as NAT) around the same time, such as when hundreds or thousands of end users connect around the start of a workday from a single office. Solution for new and existing GlobalProtect app >= 6.2.8 or GlobalProtect app >= 6.3.3 installations on Windows and macOS GlobalProtect 6.2.8 and GlobalProtect app 6.3.3 on Windows and macOS introduce a new configuration Enable Strict Certificate Check (https://docs.paloaltonetworks.com/globalprotect/6-2/globalprotect-app-release-notes/features-introduced-in-gp-app?otp=id_wvl_gwt_w2c#id_wvl_gwt_w2c) which enables certificate checks required to mitigate this issue on Windows and macOS. This configuration only takes affect after the first connection between the GlobalProtect client and the GlobalProtect portal. Therefore the first connection is not protected. To ensure that the first connection is also protected, additionally follow the steps noted below for GlobalProtect msiexec.exe /i GlobalProtect64.msi FULLCHAINCERTVERIFY="yes" Note: This command will add the registry values listed in the previous section (no additional MSI options are needed). Solution for new and existing GlobalProtect app GlobalProtect (removed for brevity) Settings full-chain-cert-verify yes 5. Restart macOS. Solution for new and existing GlobalProtect app installations on Linux 1. Create the /opt/paloaltonetworks/globalprotect/pangps.xml pre-deployment configuration file. 2. Add the pre-deployment settings to the pangps.xml file: yes 3. Install a fixed version of GlobalProtect app. Solution for new and existing GlobalProtect app installations on Android and iOS Customers can use their endpoi…