CVE-2019-6693
Published: 21 November 2019
Summary
CVE-2019-6693 is a medium-severity Use of Hard-coded Credentials (CWE-798) vulnerability in Fortinet Fortios. Its CVSS base score is 6.5 (Medium).
Operationally, ranked in the top 1.2% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SC-12 (Cryptographic Key Establishment and Management) and SC-28 (Protection of Information at Rest).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2019-6693 is a use of hard-coded cryptographic key vulnerability (CWE-798) affecting FortiOS configuration backup files. The flaw stems from encryption of sensitive data using a static key embedded in the software, allowing decryption of the resulting backup if an attacker obtains the file and knows the key. Impacted data includes non-administrator user passwords, private key passphrases, and the High Availability password when configured.
An attacker with access to a FortiOS configuration backup can recover the protected values by applying the known hard-coded key. The CVSS 6.5 rating reflects network attack vector, low complexity, and low privileges required, with the impact limited to confidentiality of the specified sensitive fields.
The issue is tracked in Fortinet advisory FG-IR-19-007 and appears in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, confirming observed real-world exploitation.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2019-16251
Vulnerability details
Use of a hard-coded cryptographic key to cipher sensitive data in FortiOS configuration backup file may allow an attacker with access to the backup file to decipher the sensitive data, via knowledge of the hard-coded key. The aforementioned sensitive data…
more
includes users' passwords (except the administrator's password), private keys' passphrases and High Availability password (when set).
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 25 June 2025
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly requires proper cryptographic key establishment and management, eliminating the use of hard-coded static keys for encrypting backup files.
Mandates cryptographic protection of information at rest, ensuring backup files containing passwords and passphrases cannot be decrypted with a known static key.
Requires use of approved cryptographic modules and algorithms, which precludes embedding a single hard-coded key in the product.