• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

New Batavia spyware targets Russian industrial enterprises

 | 

Taiwan flags security risks in popular Chinese apps after official probe

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Google Chromium V8 flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Hunters International ransomware gang shuts down and offers free decryption keys to all victims

 | 

SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 52

 | 

Security Affairs newsletter Round 531 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION

 | 

North Korea-linked threat actors spread macOS NimDoor malware via fake Zoom updates

 | 

Critical Sudo bugs expose major Linux distros to local Root exploits

 | 

Google fined $314M for misusing idle Android users' data

 | 

A flaw in Catwatchful spyware exposed logins of +62,000 users

 | 

China-linked group Houken hit French organizations using zero-days

 | 

Cybercriminals Target Brazil: 248,725 Exposed in CIEE One Data Breach

 | 

Europol shuts down Archetyp Market, longest-running dark web drug marketplace

 | 

Kelly Benefits data breach has impacted 550,000 people, and the situation continues to worsen as the investigation progresses

 | 

Cisco removed the backdoor account from its Unified Communications Manager

 | 

U.S. Sanctions Russia's Aeza Group for aiding crooks with bulletproof hosting

 | 

Qantas confirms customer data breach amid Scattered Spider attacks

 | 

CVE-2025-6554 is the fourth Chrome zero-day patched by Google in 2025

 | 

U.S. CISA adds TeleMessage TM SGNL flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

A sophisticated cyberattack hit the International Criminal Court

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • Breaking News
  • Hacking
  • Security
  • Experts released PoC exploit code for critical bug CVE-2022-40684 in Fortinet products

Experts released PoC exploit code for critical bug CVE-2022-40684 in Fortinet products

Pierluigi Paganini October 14, 2022

Experts released the PoC exploit code for the authentication bypass flaw CVE-2022-40684 in FortiGate firewalls and FortiProxy web proxies.

A proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit code for the authentication bypass vulnerability CVE-2022-40684 (CVSS score: 9.6) in FortiGate firewalls and FortiProxy web proxies has been released online.

The vulnerability impacts FortiOS versions from 7.0.0 to 7.0.6 and from 7.2.0 to 7.2.1. FortiProxy versions from 7.0.0 to 7.0.6 and 7.2.0 are also impacted.

The cybersecurity firm addressed the flaw with the release of FortiOS/FortiProxy versions 7.0.7 or 7.2.2. The company also provided a workaround for those who can’t immediately deploy security updates.

An attacker can exploit the vulnerability to log into vulnerable devices.

“An authentication bypass using an alternate path or channel [CWE-88] in FortiOS and FortiProxy may allow an unauthenticated attacker to perform operations on the administrative interface via specially crafted HTTP or HTTPS requests,” reads the advisory issued by the company PSIRT.

The company urges customers of addressing this critical vulnerability immediately due to the risk of remote exploitation of the flaw. The public availability of the PoC exploit code can fuel a wave of attacks targeting Fortinet devices.

The bad news is that the vendor confirmed this week that the critical vulnerability is being exploited in the wild.

An authentication bypass using an alternate path or channel [CWE-88] in FortiOS and FortiProxy may allow an unauthenticated attacker to perform operations on the administrative interface via specially crafted HTTP or HTTPS requests,” reads the advisory issued by the company PSIRT.

“Fortinet is aware of an instance where this vulnerability was exploited, and recommends immediately validating your systems against the following indicator of compromise in the device’s logs: user=”Local_Process_Access.””

Researchers at the Horizon3 Attack Team have released a proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit code for the vulnerability.

“FortiOS exposes a management web portal that allows a user to configure the system,” reads the post published by Horizon3.ai. “Additionally, a user can SSH into the system which exposes a locked down CLI interface.”

The researchers demonstrated the vulnerability using FortiOS version 7.2.1, below are the necessary conditions of a request for exploiting the issue:

  1. Using the Fowarded header an attacker is able to set the client_ip to  “127.0.0.1”.
  2. The “trusted access” authentication check verifies that the client_ip is “127.0.0.1” and the User-Agent is “Report Runner” both of which are under attacker control.

“Any HTTP requests to the management interface of the system that match the conditions above should be cause for concern. An attacker can use this vulnerability to do just about anything they want to the vulnerable system. This includes changing network configurations, adding new users, and initiating packet captures.” continues the post.

Experts pointed out that there are other ways to exploit this vulnerability and there may be other sets of conditions that work. This means that threat actors could develop their own exploit and use it in attacks in the wild, for this reason, it is essential to address the flaw immediately.

Researchers at Threat intelligence firm GreyNoise have already reported attacks attempting to exploit the issue. The attacks originated from 12 unique IP addresses, most of them located in Germany, followed by the US, Brazil, China, and France.

CVE-2022-40684 Grey Noise

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook

[adrotate banner=”9″][adrotate banner=”12″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, CVE-2022-40684)

[adrotate banner=”5″]

[adrotate banner=”13″]


facebook linkedin twitter

CVE-2022-40684 Cybercrime Fortinet Hacking hacking news information security news IT Information Security Pierluigi Paganini Security Affairs Security News

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini July 07, 2025
Taiwan flags security risks in popular Chinese apps after official probe
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini July 07, 2025
U.S. CISA adds Google Chromium V8 flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    New Batavia spyware targets Russian industrial enterprises

    Uncategorized / July 07, 2025

    Taiwan flags security risks in popular Chinese apps after official probe

    Security / July 07, 2025

    U.S. CISA adds Google Chromium V8 flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

    Hacking / July 07, 2025

    Hunters International ransomware gang shuts down and offers free decryption keys to all victims

    Cyber Crime / July 06, 2025

    SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 52

    Security / July 06, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT