CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2021-3044 — Paloaltonetworks Cortex Xsoar security vulnerability

Critical CVSS 9.8

An improper authorization vulnerability in Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR enables a remote unauthenticated attacker with network access to the Cortex XSOAR server to perform unauthorized actions through the REST API. This issue impacts: Cortex XSOAR 6.1.0 builds later than 1016923 and earlier than 1271064; Cortex XSOAR 6.2.0 builds earlier than 1271065. This issue does not impact Cortex XSOAR 5.5.0, Cortex XSOAR 6.0.0, Cortex XSOAR 6.0.1, or Cortex XSOAR 6.0.2 versions. All Cortex XSOAR instances hosted by Palo Alto Networks are upgraded to resolve this vulnerability. No additional action is required for these instances.

Severity
Critical
CVSS
9.8 (3.1)
Published
2021-06-22
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-285

Affected products

  • paloaltonetworks / cortex_xsoar / 6.1.0
  • paloaltonetworks / cortex_xsoar / 6.2.0

Matched remediation archetype

Authorization bypass, IDOR, and cross-tenant access

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Map object and action authorization checks across API, UI, batch, import/export, and background-job paths.
  • Identify tenant, ownership, role, and policy boundaries for affected resources and administrative operations.
  • Use synthetic fixtures to compare intended access matrices without accessing another user's real data.

Remediate safely

  • Enforce server-side authorization at each resource access and state transition using the authenticated principal and trusted tenant context.
  • Scope data queries by tenant and ownership; treat client-supplied identifiers, roles, and policy claims as untrusted.
  • Add deny-by-default policy tests for horizontal and vertical access across every affected transport.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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