Fortinet · FortiOS · Fortinet FortiOS Use of Hard-Coded Credentials Vulnerability
Verdict
Patch on your normal cycle · actively exploited, not reachable unauthenticated from the internet, and in the top 10% of CVEs by near-term exploitation probability
Added to CISA KEV 2025-06-25 · exploited in the wild for 459 days · used in ransomware campaigns
CVSS 6.5 MEDIUM. The score is a summary; these three components are the part that decides whether something scanning the internet can use it.
| Attack vector | networkreachable over the network, with no local access needed |
|---|---|
| Privileges required | lowneeds some credentials, so a fully anonymous attacker cannot reach it directly |
| User interaction | nonecan be triggered with nobody interacting with the page or request |
| Base vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N |
| Weakness | CWE-798 |
This describes the vulnerability. It says nothing about whether your systems run it.
EPSS puts the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.0583, which places it in the top 10% of all tracked CVEs. The percentile is the more useful half: 0.18 in absolute terms sounds low until you know most of the internet-facing software in the world scores under that.
| EPSS probability | 0.0583 |
|---|---|
| Percentile | 0.929 — top 10% |
| Added to KEV | 2025-06-25 |
|---|---|
| Days exploited | 459 |
| Federal remediation due | not set |
| Ransomware use | known to be used in ransomware campaigns |
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Use of a hard-coded cryptographic key to cipher sensitive data in FortiOS configuration backup file may allow an attacker with access to the backup file to decipher the sensitive data, via knowledge of the hard-coded key. The aforementioned sensitive data includes users' passwords (except the administrator's password), private keys' passphrases and High Availability password (when set).