CVE-2024-40591
Published: 11 February 2025
Summary
CVE-2024-40591 is a high-severity Incorrect Privilege Assignment (CWE-266) vulnerability in Fortinet Fortios. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 25.6th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AC-2 (Account Management) and AC-6 (Least Privilege).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2024-40591 is an incorrect privilege assignment vulnerability (CWE-266) in Fortinet FortiOS versions 7.6.0, 7.4.0 through 7.4.4, 7.2.0 through 7.2.9, and before 7.0.15. The issue affects FortiGate devices, where an authenticated admin with the Security Fabric permission in their access profile can escalate privileges to super-admin by leveraging a connection to a malicious upstream FortiGate under attacker control. It carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating high severity due to network accessibility, low complexity, and significant confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts.
The attack requires an authenticated low-privileged administrator on the target FortiGate with Security Fabric permissions. The attacker connects the target device to another FortiGate they control as a malicious upstream device in the Security Fabric topology, enabling privilege escalation to super-admin rights. This grants full administrative control over the affected FortiGate.
Mitigation details are available in the Fortinet PSIRT advisory at https://fortiguard.fortinet.com/psirt/FG-IR-24-302.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-4981
Vulnerability details
An incorrect privilege assignment vulnerability [CWE-266] in Fortinet FortiOS version 7.6.0, 7.4.0 through 7.4.4, 7.2.0 through 7.2.9 and before 7.0.15 allows an authenticated admin whose access profile has the Security Fabric permission to escalate their privileges to super-admin by connecting…
more
the targetted FortiGate to a malicious upstream FortiGate they control.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
CVE directly describes a privilege escalation vulnerability allowing an authenticated low-privileged admin to gain super-admin rights via Security Fabric feature abuse.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Enforcing the least privilege principle prevents assignment of Security Fabric permissions to low-privileged admins, eliminating the prerequisite for exploitation.
Timely flaw remediation through vendor patches directly eliminates the incorrect privilege assignment vulnerability in affected FortiOS versions.
Account management processes ensure privileges like Security Fabric access are appropriately assigned, reviewed, and revoked to mitigate escalation risks.