A use after free vulnerability [CWE-416] in FortiOS version 7.2.0 through 7.2.4 and version 7.0.0 through 7.0.10 and FortiProxy version 7.2.
A use after free vulnerability [CWE-416] in FortiOS version 7.2.0 through 7.2.4 and version 7.0.0 through 7.0.10 and FortiProxy version 7.2.0 through 7.2.2 and version 7.0.0 through 7.0.8 may allow an unauthenticated remote attacker to crash the WAD process via multiple crafted packets reaching proxy policies or firewall policies with proxy mode alongside SSL deep packet inspection.
- Published
- Oct 10, 2023
- Updated
- Jun 17, 2026
- EPSS
- 1.0% · 62th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-416
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Report tools
Action score
21
Monitor
Low priority for now.
- CVSS
- 21 / 40 · 5.3 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 0 / 30 · 1.0%
CISA SSVC decision
- Exploitation
- none
- Automatable
- yes
- Technical impact
- partial
Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.
CNA vs NVD score
- NVD
- 5.3
- CNA · fortinet
- 4.8
- 0.5 point gap
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L/E:P/RL:O/RC:C
The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.
Noroxi analysis
No Noroxi analysis for this record yet
We don't hand-write analysis for the hundreds of thousands of vulnerabilities in the database; that wouldn't be honest. For notable, high-impact vulnerabilities our team writes the mechanism, detection and remediation steps.
We use this product, ask for helpAffected systems
| Vendor | Product | CPE |
|---|---|---|
| fortinet | fortiproxy | cpe:2.3:a:fortinet:fortiproxy |
| fortinet | fortios | cpe:2.3:o:fortinet:fortios |
Affected versions
NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.
- fortinet fortios7.0.0 and later · up to 7.0.10 inclusive
- fortinet fortios7.2.0 and later · up to 7.2.4 inclusive
Versions reported by the vendor
Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (fortinet). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.
Fortinet FortiOS
- 7.2.0 and later · up to and including 7.2.4affected · semver
- 7.0.0 and later · up to and including 7.0.10affected · semver
Fortinet FortiProxy
- 7.2.0 and later · up to and including 7.2.2affected · semver
- 7.0.0 and later · up to and including 7.0.8affected · semver
Same product
fortinet: all recordsOther highest-scoring records for the same primary product.
- CVE-2022-40684An 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.KEV99Now
- CVE-2018-13379An Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ("Path Traversal") in Fortinet FortiOS 6.0.0 to 6.0.4, 5.6.3 to 5.6.7 and 5.4KEV99Now
- CVE-2024-55591An Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel vulnerability [CWE-288] affecting FortiOS version 7.0.0 through 7.0.16 and FortiKEV97Now
- CVE-2023-27997A 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,KEV95Now
- CVE-2024-21762A out-of-bounds write in Fortinet FortiOS versions 7.4.0 through 7.4.2, 7.2.0 through 7.2.6, 7.0.0 through 7.0.13, 6.4.0 through 6.4.14, 6.2KEV94Now
- CVE-2025-59718A improper verification of cryptographic signature vulnerability in Fortinet FortiOS 7.6.0 through 7.6.3, FortiOS 7.4.0 through 7.4.8, FortiKEV89Now
Remediation
Which version to upgrade to
Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.
No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.
Exploit status
No known public exploit
No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.
Research context
For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.
Timeline
From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.
No dated events beyond publication.
FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).
Patch and commit links
Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.
No commit or PR link among the references.
Credits
All researchersFinders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.
No credits in the CNA record.
Variant candidates
Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.
No nightly-computed relations.
Chain candidates
An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.
—
Bug bounty scope
No known public program.
Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).
National notice (Türkiye Cybersecurity Directorate / USOM)
Official security notices citing this record; remediation advice is on the agency's page.
- TR-23-0578 · Oct 11, 2023(Fortinet Güvenlik Bildirimi)
Technical details
Attack conditions
- Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
- No account or password is required.
- No user action is required.
- No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
If successful
- Confidentiality
- none
- Integrity
- none
- Availability
- low · the service can be disrupted
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality impact
- None
- Integrity impact
- None
- Availability impact
- Low
Weakness class (CWE)
CWE-416 · Use After FreeCVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
nvd-primary
Root cause
After a memory region is freed, another reference pointing to it is still used. By then, the same region may have been allocated for different data.
The bug in code
The whole CWE-416 classA representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.
Vulnerable
free(dev->buf);/* ... another thread is still running ... */process(dev->buf);Fixed
lock(&dev->lock);free(dev->buf);dev->buf = NULL;unlock(&dev->lock);Attack context
MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.
MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.
Change log
No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.
References
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.