Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-35279

Memory Safety in Fortinet Fortios 7.2.4 – 7.2.9

Published
11 February 2025
Modified
17 July 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.010 60th percentile
Risk Priority 65 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-35279 is a high-severity Stack-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-121) vulnerability in Fortinet Fortios. Its CVSS base score is 8.1 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 40% 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.

CVE-2024-35279 is a stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability (CWE-121) affecting Fortinet FortiOS versions 7.2.4 through 7.2.8 and 7.4.0 through 7.4.4. The issue resides in the CAPWAP control mechanism and requires the fabric service to be running on an exposed interface. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.1 (AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating high severity due to potential high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

A remote unauthenticated attacker can exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted UDP packets to the CAPWAP control interface. Successful exploitation allows execution of arbitrary code or commands, provided the attacker evades FortiOS stack protections. The attack vector is network-accessible with high complexity required and no user interaction or privileges needed.

The Fortinet product security incident response team advisory FG-IR-24-160, available at https://fortiguard.fortinet.com/psirt/FG-IR-24-160, details affected versions and recommended mitigations.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A stack-based buffer overflow [CWE-121] vulnerability in Fortinet FortiOS version 7.2.4 through 7.2.8 and version 7.4.0 through 7.4.4 allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code or commands via crafted UDP packets through the CAPWAP control, provided the attacker…

more

were able to evade FortiOS stack protections and provided the fabric service is running on the exposed interface.

CWE(s)

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.
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.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-46714Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2025-53843Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2023-29182Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2023-46720Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2024-23110Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2025-58903Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2025-24477Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2023-46718Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2023-42790Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2024-46670Same product: Fortinet Fortios

Affected Assets

fortinet
fortios
7.2.4 — 7.2.9 · 7.4.0 — 7.4.5

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 2 hardening rules · 2 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and analysis can discover stack-buffer overflows before deployment.

Input validation directly stops untrusted data from exceeding stack buffer bounds.

Memory-protection mechanisms limit the ability to execute injected code after a stack overflow.

Secure-engineering principles include bounds-checked coding and safe buffer handling that avoid introducing the flaw.

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-development practices directly prevent introduction of stack buffer overflows.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning can discover stack buffer overflows but does not prevent their introduction.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching eliminates known instances of the weakness after discovery.

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 (fuzzing, static analysis) detects stack overflows before release.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates buffer-safety practices that directly prevent stack overflows.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify buffer-size and input-validation rules.

prevents

Secure architecture principles include memory-safety and least-privilege stack usage.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe buffer handling that causes CWE-121.

none

Change-management gates can enforce security reviews that catch buffer issues.

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 (1 rule)
  • V-248594 OL 8 must implement address space layout randomization (ASLR) to protect its memory from unauthorized code execution. prevents CWE-121
Oracle Linux 9 (1 rule)
  • V-271452 OL 9 must use a Linux Security Module configured to enforce limits on system services. prevents CWE-121

References