Cyber Resilience

CVE-2022-39952

Path Traversal in Fortinet Fortinac 8.3.7 – 8.8.9

Published
16 February 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.99 100.0th percentile
Risk Priority 97 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2022-39952 is a critical-severity External Control of File Name or Path (CWE-73) vulnerability in Fortinet Fortinac. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Cloud Instance Metadata API (T1552.005); ranked in the top 0.0% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2022-39952 is an external control of file name or path vulnerability affecting Fortinet FortiNAC versions 9.4.0, 9.2.0 through 9.2.5, 9.1.0 through 9.1.7, 8.8.0 through 8.8.11, 8.7.0 through 8.7.6, 8.6.0 through 8.6.5, 8.5.0 through 8.5.4, and 8.3.7. The flaw is tracked under CWE-73 and CWE-668 and carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8.

An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit the issue by sending a specially crafted HTTP request, resulting in execution of unauthorized code or commands on the affected appliance with no user interaction or privileges required.

The vendor advisory at https://fortiguard.com/psirt/FG-IR-22-300 addresses the issue and should be consulted for available patches and mitigation steps applicable to supported FortiNAC releases.

The associated EPSS score stands at 0.9378 with no material rise from a lower baseline, indicating sustained high exploitation interest since disclosure.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A external control of file name or path in Fortinet FortiNAC versions 9.4.0, 9.2.0 through 9.2.5, 9.1.0 through 9.1.7, 8.8.0 through 8.8.11, 8.7.0 through 8.7.6, 8.6.0 through 8.6.5, 8.5.0 through 8.5.4, 8.3.7 may allow an unauthenticated attacker to execute unauthorized…

more

code or commands via specifically crafted HTTP request.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1552.005 Cloud Instance Metadata API Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access the Cloud Instance Metadata API to collect credentials and other sensitive data.
T1552.007 Container API Credential Access
Adversaries may gather credentials via APIs within a containers environment.
T1005 Data from Local System Collection
Adversaries may search local system sources, such as file systems, configuration files, local databases, virtual machine files, or process memory, to find files of interest and sensitive data prior to Exfiltration.
T1039 Data from Network Shared Drive Collection
Adversaries may search network shares on computers they have compromised to find files of interest.
T1083 File and Directory Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may enumerate files and directories or may search in specific locations of a host or network share for certain information within a file system.
T1530 Data from Cloud Storage Collection
Adversaries may access data from cloud storage.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-33299Same product: Fortinet Fortinac
CVE-2023-22638Same product: Fortinet Fortinac
CVE-2023-26206Same product: Fortinet Fortinac
CVE-2024-31488Same product: Fortinet Fortinac
CVE-2023-33300Same product: Fortinet Fortinac
CVE-2026-59835Same vendor: Fortinet
CVE-2023-26203Same product: Fortinet Fortinac
CVE-2023-22637Same product: Fortinet Fortinac
CVE-2023-22633Same product: Fortinet Fortinac
CVE-2023-36634Same vendor: Fortinet

Affected Assets

fortinet
fortinac
8.3.7 — 8.8.9 · 9.1.0 — 9.1.8 · 9.2.0 — 9.2.6

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 6 hardening rules · 5 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.3.2

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-668

Controls whether organization resources are exposed to external system spheres by permitting or prohibiting their use.

addresses: CWE-668

The control ensures information is not released into a security sphere where the recipient lacks matching access authorizations.

addresses: CWE-668

The control ensures information resources are not exposed to the incorrect (public) sphere through review and authorization.

addresses: CWE-668

Protects against data mining that would expose resources to unauthorized spheres by enforcing detection and controls.

addresses: CWE-668

Restricts information flows to ensure resources are not exposed to incorrect or unauthorized spheres.

addresses: CWE-668

Controlling internal connections prevents exposure of resources to unintended internal spheres.

addresses: CWE-668

Knowing exact processing and storage locations helps avoid exposure of resources to incorrect spheres.

addresses: CWE-668

The control prevents exposure of the media resource to the wrong security sphere.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 full match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices include input validation and path sanitization that eliminate this weakness.

PR.AA-05 mostly match
prevents

Least-privilege file authorization directly limits damage from externally controlled paths.

PR.IR-01 partial match
prevents

Network segmentation and unauthorized-access protections reduce the chance of resources being reachable by the wrong sphere.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

Security testing can detect path-traversal issues but does not itself implement preventive controls.

mitigates

Placing systems of differing trust levels into separate domains prevents resources from being placed in a sphere where they are reachable by unintended actors.

prevents

Secure development lifecycle mandates input validation and path-handling controls that directly prevent external file/path manipulation.

prevents

Application security requirements explicitly call for controls against untrusted input influencing file operations.

prevents

Secure architecture principles discourage unsafe path construction but do not prescribe concrete file-name controls.

prevents

Secure coding standards require canonicalization, allow-listing, and bounds checks on file paths, directly eliminating CWE-73.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (2 rules)
  • V-248827 OL 8 must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-668
  • V-248823 OL 8 must not have the telnet-server package installed. prevents CWE-668
RHEL 7 (1 rule)
  • V-204442 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not have the rsh-server package installed. prevents CWE-668
Windows 10 (1 rule)
  • V-220967 The Debug programs user right must only be assigned to the Administrators group. prevents CWE-668
Windows Server 2016 (1 rule)
  • V-225079 The Debug programs user right must only be assigned to the Administrators group. prevents CWE-668
Windows Server 2019 (1 rule)
  • V-205757 Windows Server 2019 Debug programs: user right must only be assigned to the Administrators group. prevents CWE-668

References