Security News > 2023 > June > Fortinet: New FortiOS RCE bug "may have been exploited" in attacks
Fortinet says a critical FortiOS SSL VPN vulnerability that was patched last week "May have been exploited" in attacks impacting government, manufacturing, and critical infrastructure organizations.
On Friday, Fortinet released security updates to address the vulnerability before disclosing additional details today.
"Our investigation found that one issue may have been exploited in a limited number of cases and we are working closely with customers to monitor the situation," Fortinet said in a report published on Monday.
While it didn't make any links to the recently disclosed Volt Typhoon attacks targeting critical infrastructure organizations across the United States, Fortinet did mention the possibility that the Chinese cyberespionage group could also target the CVE-2023-27997 flaw.
Volt Typhoon is known for hacking into Internet-exposed Fortinet FortiGuard devices via an unknown zero-day vulnerability to gain access to the networks of organizations in a wide range of critical sectors.
Fortinet said today that they are primarily targeting devices unpatched against CVE-2022-40684, an authentication bypass vulnerability in FortiOS / FortiProxy / FortiSwitchManager devices, for initial access.
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Related Vulnerability
| DATE | CVE | VULNERABILITY TITLE | RISK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-06-13 | CVE-2023-27997 | Out-of-bounds Write vulnerability in Fortinet Fortios and Fortiproxy A heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability [CWE-122] in FortiOS version 7.2.4 and below, version 7.0.11 and below, version 6.4.12 and below, version 6.0.16 and below and FortiProxy version 7.2.3 and below, version 7.0.9 and below, version 2.0.12 and below, version 1.2 all versions, version 1.1 all versions SSL-VPN may allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code or commands via specifically crafted requests. | 9.8 |
| 2022-10-18 | CVE-2022-40684 | Improper Authentication vulnerability in Fortinet Fortios, Fortiproxy and Fortiswitchmanager An authentication bypass using an alternate path or channel [CWE-288] in Fortinet FortiOS version 7.2.0 through 7.2.1 and 7.0.0 through 7.0.6, FortiProxy version 7.2.0 and version 7.0.0 through 7.0.6 and FortiSwitchManager version 7.2.0 and 7.0.0 allows an unauthenticated atttacker to perform operations on the administrative interface via specially crafted HTTP or HTTPS requests. | 9.8 |