Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2023-34990 is a critical-severity Relative Path Traversal (CWE-23) vulnerability in Fortinet Fortiwlm. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data Obfuscation (T1001); ranked in the top 2% 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 relative path traversal vulnerability affects Fortinet FortiWLM versions 8.6.0 through 8.6.5 and 8.5.0 through 8.5.4. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2023-34990 and assigned CWE-23 and CWE-94, permits remote attackers to execute unauthorized code or commands by submitting specially crafted web requests to the affected wireless LAN management software.
Unauthenticated attackers with network access can exploit the issue without user interaction or credentials. Successful exploitation grants full control over the target system, including the ability to read, modify, or delete data and execute arbitrary commands, consistent with the CVSS 9.8 rating reflecting complete confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.
The Fortinet advisory FG-IR-23-144 addresses the issue, though specific patch or workaround details are not enumerated in the supplied references. The EPSS score has remained stable at its peak value of 0.7287 with no indicated rise after disclosure.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-39028
Vulnerability Data
A relative path traversal in Fortinet FortiWLM version 8.6.0 through 8.6.5 and 8.5.0 through 8.5.4 allows attacker to execute unauthorized code or commands via specially crafted web requests.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V5.3.2V1.3.1
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation finds code paths that accept and execute externally influenced strings.
Explicit validation of path inputs stops .. sequences from ever being interpreted by the file system.
Access enforcement directly blocks unauthorized file reads/writes that result from unresolved .. sequences.
Information-flow rules can be configured to reject traversals that would move data outside an approved directory boundary.
Least privilege reduces the set of reachable files even when a traversal succeeds.
Requiring documented secure development standards and tools enforces use of safe code-generation APIs and escaping.
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's SDLC practices directly target injection flaws via secure coding and testing (mostly), yet as a single broad outcome it leaves many code-generation specifics unaddressed (partial).
PR.DS-10 protects runtime data confidentiality/integrity but has no bearing on neutralizing externally influenced input during code generation, so neither direction shows any preventive effect.
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.