Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-40588

Path Traversal in Fortinet Fortimail 6.4.0 – 7.4.4

Published
12 August 2025
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 4.4
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0018 7th percentile
Risk Priority 34 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-40588 is a medium-severity Relative Path Traversal (CWE-23) vulnerability in Fortinet Fortimail. Its CVSS base score is 4.4 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 7th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and AC-3 (Access Enforcement) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Multiple relative path traversal vulnerabilities [CWE-23] vulnerability in Fortinet FortiCamera 2.1 all versions, FortiCamera 2.0.0, FortiCamera 1.1 all versions, FortiCamera 1.0 all versions, FortiMail 7.6.0 through 7.6.1, FortiMail 7.4.0 through 7.4.3, FortiMail 7.2 all versions, FortiMail 7.0 all versions, FortiMail…

more

6.4 all versions, FortiNDR 7.6.0 through 7.6.1, FortiNDR 7.4.0 through 7.4.6, FortiNDR 7.2 all versions, FortiNDR 7.1 all versions, FortiNDR 7.0 all versions, FortiRecorder 7.2.0 through 7.2.1, FortiRecorder 7.0.0 through 7.0.4, FortiRecorder 6.4 all versions, FortiVoice 7.0.0 through 7.0.3, FortiVoice 6.4.0 through 6.4.9, FortiVoice 6.0 all versions may allow a privileged attacker to read files from the underlying filesystem via crafted CLI requests.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

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.
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.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-32756Same product: Fortinet Forticamera
CVE-2023-42783Same vendor: Fortinet
CVE-2025-22859Same vendor: Fortinet
CVE-2026-39814Same vendor: Fortinet
CVE-2024-48892Same vendor: Fortinet
CVE-2025-53609Same vendor: Fortinet
CVE-2025-64446Same vendor: Fortinet
CVE-2023-40714Same vendor: Fortinet
CVE-2024-46664Same product: Fortinet Fortirecorder
CVE-2024-35274Same vendor: Fortinet

Affected Assets

fortinet
forticamera firmware
2.0.0 — 2.1.4
fortinet
fortimail
6.4.0 — 7.4.4 · 7.6.0 — 7.6.2
fortinet
fortindr
7.0.0 — 7.4.7 · 7.6.0 — 7.6.2
fortinet
fortirecorder
6.4.0 — 7.0.5 · 7.2.0 — 7.2.2
fortinet
fortivoice
6.0.0 — 6.4.10 · 7.0.0 — 7.0.5

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)
  • V5.3.2

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

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.

Secure-engineering principles require safe pathname construction and input neutralization before any file operation.

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 require input validation and path sanitization that prevent relative traversal.

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 in development catches path traversal via static/dynamic analysis, but does not itself implement the fix.

prevents

Secure development lifecycle mandates input validation and path-handling controls that directly prevent relative path traversal.

prevents

Application security requirements explicitly call for controls against path traversal and other injection flaws.

prevents

Secure architecture principles include directory isolation and canonicalization, reducing but not eliminating traversal risk.

prevents

Secure coding standards require neutralizing path traversal sequences, directly addressing CWE-23.

mitigates

Information access restriction limits which files can be reached, mitigating impact but not preventing the traversal flaw.

References