Threat Actors Exploit Critical FortiClient EMS Flaw to Deploy Credential Stealer
May 28, 2026
Vulnerability / Endpoint Security
Threat actors are continuing to exploit a critical, now-patched security flaw impacting FortiClient Endpoint Management Server (EMS) deployments to deliver credential-stealing malware. "The campaign abused trusted endpoint management infrastructure to deliver malware across managed endpoints," Arctic Wolf said . "Threat actors disguised the credential stealer payload as a Fortinet endpoint update, silently executing the malicious executable through PowerShell." The activity, observed by the cybersecurity company in May 2026, involves the exploitation of CVE-2026-35616 (CVSS score: 9.1), a critical pre-authentication API access bypass leading to privilege escalation. The issue was addressed by Fortinet in FortiClient EMS 7.4.7 and later. A successful compromise is followed by the threat actor taking steps to modify configurations to defer firmware upgrade reminders, as well as modifying a Remote Access Profile configuration and endpoint policy to insert a mal...
