Palo Alto GlobalProtect Vulnerability Allows Privilege Escalation via Certificate Bypass

A newly disclosed vulnerability in Palo Alto Networks’ GlobalProtect application could allow attackers to escalate privileges and install malicious software on affected systems through improper certificate validation.

The security flaw, tracked as CVE-2025-2183, was published on August 13, 2025, and affects multiple versions of the popular VPN client across Windows and Linux platforms.

Critical Security Flaw Details

The vulnerability stems from insufficient certificate validation within the GlobalProtect app, enabling attackers to redirect the application to connect to arbitrary servers under their control.

This security weakness particularly affects local non-administrative users and attackers positioned on the same network subnet, who can exploit the flaw to install malicious root certificates on target endpoints.

Once these fraudulent certificates are installed, attackers can subsequently deploy malicious software signed by their own certificate authorities, effectively bypassing standard security controls.

The ...