FortiOS | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

Fortinet has warned of a critical security flaw impacting its FortiClientEMS software that could allow attackers to achieve code execution on affected systems. "An improper neutralization of special elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection') vulnerability [CWE-89] in FortiClientEMS may allow an unauthenticated attacker to execute unauthorized code or commands via specifically crafted requests," the company  said  in an advisory. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2023-48788, carries a CVSS rating of 9.3 out of a maximum of 10. It impacts the following versions - FortiClientEMS 7.2.0 through 7.2.2 (Upgrade to 7.2.3 or above) FortiClientEMS 7.0.1 through 7.0.10 (Upgrade to 7.0.11 or above) Horizon3.ai, which  plans  to release additional technical details and a proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit next week, said the shortcoming could be exploited to obtain remote code execution as SYSTEM on the server. Fortinet has credited Thiago Santana from the Forticlien...

A four-year-old critical security flaw impacting Fortinet FortiOS SSL has emerged as one of the most routinely and frequently exploited vulnerabilities in 2022. "In 2022, malicious cyber actors exploited older software vulnerabilities more frequently than recently disclosed vulnerabilities and targeted unpatched, internet-facing systems," cybersecurity and intelligence agencies from the Five Eyes nations, which comprises Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K., and the U.S.,  said  in a joint alert. The continued weaponization of  CVE-2018-13379 , which was also one among the most exploited bugs in  2020  and  2021 , suggests a failure on the part of organizations to apply patches in a timely manner, the authorities said. "Malicious cyber actors likely prioritize developing exploits for severe and globally prevalent CVEs," according to the advisory. "While sophisticated actors also develop tools to exploit other vulnerabilities, developing exploits for...

Vulnerability Management (VM) has long been a cornerstone of organizational cybersecurity. Nearly as old as the discipline of cybersecurity itself, it aims to help organizations identify and address potential security issues before they become serious problems. Yet, in recent years, the limitations of this approach have become increasingly evident.  At its core, Vulnerability Management processes remain essential for identifying and addressing weaknesses. But as time marches on and attack avenues evolve, this approach is beginning to show its age. In a recent report, How to Grow Vulnerability Management into Exposure Management (Gartner, How to Grow Vulnerability Management Into Exposure Management, 8 November 2024, Mitchell Schneider Et Al.), we believe Gartner® addresses this point precisely and demonstrates how organizations can – and must – shift from a vulnerability-centric strategy to a broader Exposure Management (EM) framework. We feel it's more than a worthwhile read an...

Fortinet on Monday disclosed that a  newly patched critical flaw  impacting FortiOS and FortiProxy may have been "exploited in a limited number of cases" in attacks targeting government, manufacturing, and critical infrastructure sectors. The  vulnerability , dubbed XORtigate and tracked as  CVE-2023-27997  (CVSS score: 9.2), concerns a  heap-based buffer overflow  vulnerability in FortiOS and FortiProxy SSL-VPN that could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code or commands via specifically crafted requests. LEXFO security researchers Charles Fol and Dany Bach have been credited with discovering and reporting the flaw. It was addressed by Fortinet on June 9, 2023 in the following versions - FortiOS-6K7K version 7.0.12 or above FortiOS-6K7K version 6.4.13 or above FortiOS-6K7K version 6.2.15 or above FortiOS-6K7K version 6.0.17 or above FortiProxy version 7.2.4 or above FortiProxy version 7.0.10 or above FortiProxy version 2.0.13 ...

The zero-day exploitation of a now-patched medium-severity security flaw in the Fortinet  FortiOS  operating system has been linked to a suspected Chinese hacking group. American cybersecurity company Mandiant, which made the attribution, said the activity cluster is part of a broader campaign designed to deploy backdoors onto Fortinet and VMware solutions and maintain persistent access to victim environments. The Google-owned threat intelligence and incident response firm is tracking the malicious operation under its uncategorized moniker UNC3886 , describing it as a China-nexus threat actor. "UNC3886 is an advanced cyber espionage group with unique capabilities in how they operate on-network as well as the tools they utilize in their campaigns," Mandiant researchers  said  in a technical analysis. "UNC3886 has been observed targeting firewall and virtualization technologies which lack EDR support. Their ability to manipulate firewall firmware and exploit a zer...

Government entities and large organizations have been targeted by an unknown threat actor by exploiting a security flaw in Fortinet FortiOS software to result in data loss and OS and file corruption. "The complexity of the exploit suggests an advanced actor and that it is highly targeted at governmental or government-related targets," Fortinet researchers Guillaume Lovet and Alex Kong said in an advisory last week. The zero-day flaw in question is CVE-2022-41328 (CVSS score: 6.5), a medium security path traversal bug in FortiOS that could lead to arbitrary code execution. "An improper limitation of a pathname to a restricted directory vulnerability ('path traversal') [CWE-22] in FortiOS may allow a privileged attacker to read and write arbitrary files via crafted CLI commands," the company noted. The shortcoming impacts FortiOS versions 6.0, 6.2, 6.4.0 through 6.4.11, 7.0.0 through 7.0.9, and 7.2.0 through 7.2.3. Fixes are available in versions 6.4.1...

Fortinet has released fixes to  address 15 security flaws , including one critical vulnerability impacting FortiOS and FortiProxy that could enable a threat actor to take control of affected systems. The issue, tracked as  CVE-2023-25610 , is rated 9.3 out of 10 for severity and was internally discovered and reported by its security teams. "A buffer underwrite ('buffer underflow') vulnerability in FortiOS and FortiProxy administrative interface may allow a remote unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code on the device and/or perform a DoS on the GUI, via specifically crafted requests," Fortinet  said  in an advisory. Underflow bugs , also called  buffer underruns , occur when the input data is shorter than the reserved space, causing unpredictable behavior or leakage of sensitive data from memory. Other possible consequences include memory corruption that could either be weaponized to induce a crash or execute arbitrary code. Fortinet said it's n...

Fortinet has released security updates to  address 40 vulnerabilities  in its software lineup, including FortiWeb, FortiOS, FortiNAC, and FortiProxy, among others. Two of the 40 flaws are rated Critical, 15 are rated High, 22 are rated Medium, and one is rated Low in severity. Top of the list is a severe bug residing in the FortiNAC network access control solution (CVE-2022-39952, CVSS score: 9.8) that could lead to arbitrary code execution. "An external control of file name or path vulnerability [CWE-73] in FortiNAC web server may allow an unauthenticated attacker to perform arbitrary write on the system," Fortinet  said  in an advisory earlier this week. The products impacted by the vulnerability are as follows - FortiNAC version 9.4.0 FortiNAC version 9.2.0 through 9.2.5 FortiNAC version 9.1.0 through 9.1.7 FortiNAC 8.8 all versions FortiNAC 8.7 all versions FortiNAC 8.6 all versions FortiNAC 8.5 all versions, and FortiNAC 8.3 all versions Patches...

A suspected China-nexus threat actor exploited a recently patched vulnerability in Fortinet FortiOS SSL-VPN as a zero-day in attacks targeting a European government entity and a managed service provider (MSP) located in Africa. Telemetry evidence gathered by Google-owned Mandiant indicates that the exploitation occurred as early as October 2022, at least nearly two months before fixes were released. "This incident continues China's pattern of exploiting internet facing devices, specifically those used for managed security purposes (e.g., firewalls, IPS\IDS appliances etc.)," Mandiant researchers  said  in a technical report. The attacks entailed the use of a sophisticated backdoor dubbed  BOLDMOVE , a Linux variant of which is specifically designed to run on Fortinet's FortiGate firewalls. The intrusion vector in question relates to the exploitation of  CVE-2022-42475 , a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in FortiOS SSL-VPN that could result in unauthent...

A zero-day vulnerability in FortiOS SSL-VPN that Fortinet addressed last month was exploited by unknown actors in attacks targeting governments and other large organizations. "The complexity of the exploit suggests an advanced actor and that it is highly targeted at governmental or government-related targets," Fortinet researchers  said  in a post-mortem analysis published this week. The attacks entailed the exploitation of  CVE-2022-42475 , a heap-based buffer overflow flaw that could enable an unauthenticated remote attacker to execute arbitrary code via specifically crafted requests. The infection chain analyzed by the company shows that the end goal was to deploy a generic Linux implant modified for FortiOS that's equipped to compromise Fortinet's intrusion prevention system ( IPS ) software and establish connections with a remote server to download additional malware and execute commands. Fortinet said it was unable to recover the payloads used in the subs...

Fortinet on Monday issued emergency patches for a severe security flaw affecting its FortiOS SSL-VPN product that it said is being actively exploited in the wild. Tracked as  CVE-2022-42475  (CVSS score: 9.3), the critical bug relates to a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability that could allow an unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code via specially crafted requests. The company  said  it's "aware of an instance where this vulnerability was exploited in the wild," urging customers to move quickly to apply the updates. The following products are impacted by the issue - FortiOS version 7.2.0 through 7.2.2 FortiOS version 7.0.0 through 7.0.8 FortiOS version 6.4.0 through 6.4.10 FortiOS version 6.2.0 through 6.2.11 FortiOS-6K7K version 7.0.0 through 7.0.7 FortiOS-6K7K version 6.4.0 through 6.4.9 FortiOS-6K7K version 6.2.0 through 6.2.11 FortiOS-6K7K version 6.0.0 through 6.0.14 Patches are available in FortiOS versions 7.2.3, 7.0.9, 6.4.11, ...

A proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit code has been made available for the recently disclosed critical security flaw affecting Fortinet FortiOS, FortiProxy, and FortiSwitchManager, making it imperative that users move quickly to apply the patches. "FortiOS exposes a management web portal that allows a user to configure the system," Horizon3.ai researcher James Horseman  said . "Additionally, a user can SSH into the system which exposes a locked down CLI interface." The issue, tracked as  CVE-2022-40684  (CVSS score: 9.6), concerns an  authentication bypass  vulnerability that could allow a remote attacker to perform malicious operations on the administrative interface via specially crafted HTTP(S) requests. A successful exploitation of the shortcoming is tantamount to granting complete access "to do just about anything" on the affected system, including altering network configurations, adding malicious users, and intercepting network traffic. That said, ...