This Metasploit module exploits a chain of vulnerabilities in Palo Alto Networks products running PAN-OS versions prior to 6.1.19, 7.0.19, 7.1.14, and 8.0.6. This chain starts by using an authentication bypass flaw to to exploit an XML injection issue, which is then abused to create an arbitrary directory, and finally gains root code execution by exploiting a vulnerable cron script. This Metasploit module uses an initial reverse TLS callback to stage arbitrary payloads on the target appliance. The cron job used for the final payload runs every 15 minutes by default and exploitation can take up to 20 minutes.

CVE-2017-15944