Overview
A severe vulnerability, identified as CVE-2024-26009, has been discovered in a range of Fortinet products, including FortiOS, FortiProxy, and FortiPAM. This vulnerability, classified as an authentication bypass using an alternate path or channel (CWE-288), has the potential to allow unauthorized attackers to take control of a managed device. This vulnerability is especially critical as it enables an attacker to bypass authentication and seize control of a system without needing any user interaction, potentially leading to system compromise or data leakage.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2024-26009
Severity: High (CVSS: 8.1)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: System compromise, Potential data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
Fortinet FortiOS | 6.4.0 through 6.4.15, before 6.2.16
Fortinet FortiProxy | 7.4.0 through 7.4.2, 7.2.0 through 7.2.8, before 7.0.15
Fortinet FortiPAM | Before 1.2.0
How the Exploit Works
The exploit takes advantage of a vulnerability in the Fortinet products where an attacker can use specially crafted FortiGate-FortiManager protocol (FGFM) requests to bypass the authentication process. The exploit’s success hinges on the attacker knowing the FortiManager’s serial number, enabling them to take control of a device managed by the FortiManager.
Conceptual Example Code
Below is a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited. This example represents an FGFM request, where “malicious_payload” is a specially crafted request:
POST /fgfm/endpoint HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/json
{ "FortiManager_serial_number": "known_serial_number", "malicious_payload": "..." }This is purely a conceptual representation of an attack and does not represent an actual exploit code. The actual malicious payload would be specifically crafted to exploit the vulnerability in the target system.
Mitigation Guidance
The recommended mitigation for this vulnerability is to apply the vendor-supplied patch. If the patch cannot be applied immediately, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can provide temporary mitigation. It is also recommended to avoid exposing Fortinet devices to the internet and to restrict network access to them.