CVE-2022-0028
A PAN-OS URL filtering policy misconfiguration could allow a network-based attacker to conduct reflected and amplified TCP denial-of-service (RDoS) attacks. The DoS attack would appear to originate from a Palo Alto Networks PA-Series (hardware), VM-Series (virtual) and CN-Series (container) firewall against an attacker-specified target. To be misused by an external attacker, the firewall configuration must have a URL filtering profile with one or more blocked categories assigned to a source zone that has an external facing interface. This configuration is not typical for URL filtering and, if set, is likely unintended by the administrator. If exploited, this issue would not impact the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of our products. However, the resulting denial-of-service (DoS) attack may help obfuscate the identity of the attacker and implicate the firewall as the source of the attack. We have taken prompt action to address this issue in our PAN-OS software. All software updates for this issue are expected to be released no later than the week of August 15, 2022. This issue does not impact Panorama M-Series or Panorama virtual appliances. This issue has been resolved for all Cloud NGFW and Prisma Access customers and no additional action is required from them.
- CVSS
- 8.6Highscored by the publisher (CNA)
- Exploited in the wild
- Yes, in CISA KEV since 22 Aug 2022CISA deadline for US federal agencies: 12 Sept 2022
- EPSS
- 2.7%chance of exploitation in the next 30 daystop 14% of scored CVEsFIRST score of 11 Nov 2026
- Fix
- Patch availablesee the advisories in the references
- Published
- 10 Aug 2022analysed here 12 Nov 2026
Do first. Apply updates per vendor instructions. (CISA's required action for this KEV entry)
Summary
Triage
The summary, impact and action text on this page are written by our AI analysis pipeline, or taken from the NVD description when a CVE was imported from NVD. They are not the vendor's wording: check them against the sources. A longer AI executive summary and technical analysis are generated for signed-in accounts on the Max plan.
Affected products
| Product | Affected versions | Vendor says fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS | >= 8.1 and < 8.1.23-h1>= 9.0 and < 9.0.16-h3>= 9.1 and < 9.1.14-h4>= 10.0 and < 10.0.11-h1>= 10.1 and < 10.1.6-h6>= 10.2 and < 10.2.2-h2Vendor says fixed in: not stated |
As published in the CVE Program record. A version outside these ranges is not a statement that it is unaffected — vendors sometimes understate a range, and distribution-backported builds carry upstream numbers that do not reflect what was patched into them.
Products named in our analysis
- paloaltonetworks:pan-os
Fix and mitigation
WAF and other mitigations
Can a WAF block it? No. The attack exploits a misconfiguration in the firewall's URL filtering policy to conduct reflected and amplified TCP denial-of-service attacks, which occur over the network but not specifically via HTTP requests. Since the attack is network-based and relies on firewall behavior rather than specific HTTP request patterns, a web application firewall cannot filter or block the malicious traffic effectively.
Also consider: patch
Based on an AI reading of the CVE description, and no vendor rule found yet. We check Cloudflare, AWS, Google Cloud Armor and Azure; for Akamai, Imperva, Fastly, F5, ask your vendor.
Remediation steps (AI-written)
Step-by-step remediation is generated for accounts on the Max plan, for CVEs that match a technology in their stack. Add this technology to your stack to see the fix checklist.
Exploitation evidence
- CISA KEV catalog
- Listed since 22 Aug 2022.
- CISA due date
- 12 Sept 2022, the remediation deadline for US federal agencies
- CISA required action
- Apply updates per vendor instructions.
- Public exploit code
- None on record in Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei templates or PoC-in-GitHub.
- CISA SSVC
- exploitation active, automatable yes, technical impact partialAssessed by CISA 27 Jan 2025 (SSVC 2.0.3). Exploitation is none, poc (public proof of concept) or active.
Timeline
- 10 Aug 2022Published
- 22 Aug 2022Added to CISA KEV (exploited in the wild)11 days later
- 12 Sept 2022CISA remediation due date (US federal agencies)21 days later
- 27 Jan 2025CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation active869 days (about 2 years) later
- 21 Oct 2025CVE record last updated267 days (about 9 months) later
- 12 Nov 2026Analysed by vulneraibility.com387 days (about 1 year) later
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
| Metric | Value | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Attack vector | NetworkReachable over the internet or any routable network. | Reachable over the internet or any routable network. |
| Attack complexity | LowRepeatable attack, no special conditions. | Repeatable attack, no special conditions. |
| Privileges required | NoneThe attacker needs no prior access. | The attacker needs no prior access. |
| User interaction | NoneNo victim action needed. | No victim action needed. |
| Scope | ChangedImpact crosses a security boundary into other components. | Impact crosses a security boundary into other components. |
| Confidentiality | NoneNo data disclosure. | No data disclosure. |
| Integrity | NoneNo unauthorised modification. | No unauthorised modification. |
| Availability | HighFull outage possible. | Full outage possible. |
Common questions
Is CVE-2022-0028 being exploited?
Yes. CVE-2022-0028 appears in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which means exploitation in the wild has been confirmed and reported. Treat it as active rather than theoretical, and patch it ahead of higher-scoring vulnerabilities that carry no exploitation evidence.
How severe is CVE-2022-0028?
CVE-2022-0028 is rated High with a CVSS score of 8.6. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.
Is there a patch for CVE-2022-0028?
Yes. A fix has been recorded for CVE-2022-0028. The vendor advisory is the authority on the exact fixed version — apply it from there rather than from a summary.
What does CVE-2022-0028 affect?
CVE-2022-0028 affects paloaltonetworks:pan-os. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.
Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.
References
2 references in the CVE record, grouped by the tags the record gives them.
Other links (2)
- security.paloaltonetworks.com /CVE-2022-0028
- cisa.gov /known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2022-0028
Where the data on this page comes from
- CVE List (CVE.org): description, affected versions, references; CVE Terms of Use
- NVD: CVSS and CPE data
- CISA KEV catalog: exploitation, date added, due date
- CISA Vulnrichment (ADP): SSVC decision points
- FIRST EPSS: exploit probability and percentile
Summary, impact and triage tags: written by our AI analysis pipeline from the sources above. Check them against the sources.
Similar CVEs
Get CVEs like this by email. Join the free digest: the CVEs we flag as major, all CVSS 8.0 or higher, in up to three emails a day (sent at 05:00, 11:00 and 15:00 UTC). Matching alerts to the products you run needs an account, and accounts are invite-only during the beta.