Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-25610

Memory Safety in Fortinet Fortiweb 6.1.0 – 6.1.4

Memory Safety
Published
24 March 2025
Modified
24 July 2025
Patch / advisory
View 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 0.18 97th percentile
Risk Priority 85 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-25610 is a critical-severity Buffer Underflow (CWE-124) vulnerability in Fortinet Fortiweb. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 3% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

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

A buffer underwrite vulnerability tracked as CVE-2023-25610 affects the administrative interface of multiple Fortinet products, including FortiOS versions 7.2.0 through 7.2.3, 7.0.0 through 7.0.6, 6.4.0 through 6.4.11, and 6.2.12 and earlier; FortiProxy versions 7.2.0 through 7.2.2, 7.0.0 through 7.0.8, and 2.0.12 and earlier; and FortiOS-6K7K versions 7.0.5, 6.4.0 through 6.4.10, and 6.2.0 through 6.2.10 and earlier. The flaw is classified under CWE-124 and carries a CVSS v3.1 score of 9.8.

Remote unauthenticated attackers can exploit the issue by sending specifically crafted requests to the administrative interface, enabling arbitrary code or command execution with full confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.

The Fortinet advisory at https://fortiguard.com/psirt/FG-IR-23-001 addresses the vulnerability and provides mitigation guidance for affected releases.

EPSS for the CVE rose from a low baseline to a peak of 0.2551 on 2025-12-18 before receding to the current value of 0.1724, indicating that exploitation interest increased after disclosure.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A buffer underwrite ('buffer underflow') vulnerability in the administrative interface of Fortinet FortiOS version 7.2.0 through 7.2.3, version 7.0.0 through 7.0.6, version 6.4.0 through 6.4.11 and version 6.2.12 and below, FortiProxy version 7.2.0 through 7.2.2, version 7.0.0 through 7.0.8, version…

more

2.0.12 and below and FortiOS-6K7K version 7.0.5, version 6.4.0 through 6.4.10 and version 6.2.0 through 6.2.10 and below allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code or commands via specifically crafted requests.

CWE(s)
CWE-124

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-50571Same product: Fortinet Fortianalyzer
CVE-2025-22258Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2023-36641Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2023-46718Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2023-42790Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2023-41675Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2024-23113Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2023-40721Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2023-45583Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2025-57740Same product: Fortinet Fortios

Affected Assets

fortinet
fortiweb
6.1.0 — 6.1.4 · 6.2.0 — 6.2.8 · 6.3.0 — 6.3.23
fortinet
fortiswitchmanager
7.0.0 — 7.0.2 · 7.2.0 — 7.2.2
fortinet
fortiswitch
7.0.0 — 7.0.7 · 7.2.0 — 7.2.4
fortinet
fortiproxy
1.1.0 — 7.0.9 · 7.2.0 — 7.2.3
fortinet
fortios-6k7k
7.0.5 · 6.0.4 — 6.2.13 · 6.4.2 — 6.4.12
fortinet
fortios
5.0.0 — 6.2.13 · 6.4.0 — 6.4.12 · 7.0.0 — 7.0.10
fortinet
fortimanager
7.2.0 · 6.0.0 — 6.0.12 · 6.2.0 — 6.2.11 · 6.4.0 — 6.4.12
fortinet
fortianalyzer
7.2.0 · 6.0.0 — 6.0.12 · 6.2.0 — 6.2.11 · 6.4.0 — 6.4.12

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.4.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and analysis can discover buffer underwrite flaws before deployment but does not stop their introduction.

SI-10 Information Input Validation partial match

Input validation can enforce bounds on indices or pointers before buffer writes, structurally stopping underwrite conditions.

SI-16 Memory Protection partial match

Memory protection mechanisms limit the blast radius of an out-of-bounds write even if the coding flaw exists.

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 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly prevent introduction of buffer underwrite flaws via coding standards, reviews, and testing.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability identification processes can discover buffer underwrite issues but do not prevent their creation.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching removes instances of the weakness after discovery but does not address root-cause prevention in code.

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.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing in development catches buffer-underflow defects before release.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure SDLC mandates input validation and bounds checking that directly prevent buffer underflow.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can specify buffer-size and pointer-safety rules.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture and engineering principles require safe memory-handling patterns.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe pointer arithmetic and mandate bounds checks.

References