CVE-2018-13374Fortinet FortiOS and FortiADC Improper Access Control Vulnerability
CVE-2018-13374 is a incorrect permission assignment in Fortinet FortiOS and FortiADC, rated medium (4.3 on CVSS 3.1).
Why this priority: Exploited in the wild: listed in CISA's KEV catalog.
Published · Updated · NVD status: Analyzed
What it is
A critical resource has permissions that let the wrong people read or change it.
How it is reached
An attacker can exploit it over the network, with an ordinary user account, and nobody has to click anything.
What an attacker gains
The direct impact is limited: partial access to data or a partial outage. In practice, this kind of flaw lets an attacker use a weak default the deployment never changed.
Is it being exploited?
CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2022-09-08: it is being exploited in the wild. CISA links it to ransomware campaigns. EPSS estimates a 38% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 99% of scored CVEs.
What to do
- Treat it as urgent: it is on CISA's KEV list. CISA's deadline for US federal agencies: 2022-09-29.
- Upgrade Fortinet FortiOS and FortiADC to 6.0.3 or later.
- Until it is patched, review who holds accounts that can reach it.
- Check exposed instances for signs of compromise, not only for the version.
Description from NVD
A Improper Access Control in Fortinet FortiOS 6.0.2, 5.6.7 and before, FortiADC 6.1.0, 6.0.0 to 6.0.1, 5.4.0 to 5.4.4 allows attacker to obtain the LDAP server login credentials configured in FortiGate via pointing a LDAP server connectivity test request to a rogue LDAP server instead of the configured one.
What this means for your architecture.
A CVE names a product. Whether it matters depends on where that product sits in your systems: what reaches it, which trust boundary it guards and what it can reach once compromised. Veriom maps your components, their relationships and your trust boundaries from your code, cloud and delivery evidence, so you can see where a component like this sits. The radar itself does not look at your systems.
Components it touches
- Network edge devices: VPNs, firewalls, routers and gateways. They sit between the internet and internal networks, so a flaw in one is often the first step into everything behind it.
- Operating systems on servers, workstations or devices. Everything on the host inherits the flaw.
- Default settings, permissions and deployment configuration. The flaw sits between the shipped defaults and a hardened deployment.
Trust boundaries in play
- Authenticated network access. An account is needed, so exposure follows who can sign in: customers, partners or staff.
- Between the shipped defaults and a hardened deployment. An attacker who crosses it can use a weak default the deployment never changed.
Questions to answer about your own systems
- Where does Fortinet FortiOS and FortiADC run in your systems, and at which version?
- Which of those instances can be reached from the internet or partner networks?
- What can it reach once compromised: which data stores, secrets and services?
Sources
- CVE records and CVSS scores from the NVD CVE API. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
- Exploitation status from CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
- Exploit likelihood from FIRST’s Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), refreshed daily.
- Explanations are written by Veriom from fixed templates over each record’s data, not by a person reviewing each CVE. Descriptions are quoted from the records as published.