Threats / Fortinet / CVE-2022-41328
CVE-2022-41328
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-09-19
Fortinet FortiOS vulnerability
Fortinet FortiOS contains a path traversal vulnerability allowing local privileged attackers to read and write arbitrary files via crafted CLI commands.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
A local privilege-dependent path traversal in FortiOS enables file system access beyond intended boundaries. The vulnerability has been exploited in the wild, though no ransomware campaigns are attributed to it.
CISA KEV Yes · 2023-03-145EPSS 0.10682 (verify live)6CVSS 6.53CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: total4
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
18 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2023-03-14).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.10682 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 6.5 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:X/RC:C) · Affected: Fortinet, FortiOS. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CNA-assigned (CVE.org), version 3.1, set at disclosure.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-22 Path Traversal — weakness family: Path traversal / file.CWE — CNA-assigned (CVE.org); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical Impact: totalCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 7 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I authenticate to the FortiOS CLI with elevated privileges.
Business
Administrative access is expected to be restricted to trusted personnel with proper controls.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I craft CLI commands that traverse directory structures using path manipulation techniques.
Business
System integrity depends on CLI input validation preventing unauthorized file system navigation.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I read sensitive configuration files, credentials, or system data outside my intended scope.
Business
Confidential data exposure compromises security posture and may enable lateral movement.
4
Data at risk — exfiltration narrative 4
Attacker
I write or modify files in critical system directories to alter behavior or persistence.
Business
System availability and trustworthiness are undermined by unauthorized file modifications.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05
Coverage & confidence
— what we know, and what we don’tEstablished (cited)
Coverage gaps — stated, not hidden
Disclosure & credit2
Catalogued by fortinetCNA
Credited with finding itNo finder is named in the public CVE record or the scanned vendor advisory — attribution scoped to the sources checked.
Found an error? Propose a correction.
A correction is a cited counter-claim — it must cite a source,
gets reviewed by a second human, and is never auto-applied. See the
correction convention and our identity
npub1j7gt9ky7sfcrjn8jjee6693dkzvk4rahs0fk2suu7968dfns62zs3mqm3y.