Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-54822

Access Control in Fortinet Fortios 7.0.0 – 7.2.9

Published
14 October 2025
Modified
14 January 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 4.3
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0030 22th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-54822 is a medium-severity Improper Authorization (CWE-285) vulnerability in Fortinet Fortios. Its CVSS base score is 4.3 (Medium).

Operationally, ranked at the 22th 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 AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and AC-4 (Information Flow Enforcement) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

An improper authorization vulnerability [CWE-285] vulnerability in Fortinet FortiOS 7.4.0 through 7.4.1, FortiOS 7.2.0 through 7.2.8, FortiOS 7.0.0 through 7.0.11, FortiProxy 7.4.0 through 7.4.8, FortiProxy 7.2 all versions, FortiProxy 7.0 all versions, FortiProxy 2.0 all versions allows an authenticated attacker…

more

to access static files of others VDOMs via crafted HTTP or HTTPS requests.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-29184Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2024-52965Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2024-23112Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2023-47536Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2023-29178Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2024-23111Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2023-29183Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2023-46718Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2023-44250Same product: Fortinet Fortios
CVE-2025-25255Same product: Fortinet Fortios

Affected Assets

fortinet
fortios
7.0.0 — 7.2.9 · 7.4.0 — 7.4.2
fortinet
fortiproxy
2.0.0 — 7.4.9

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • AC-3 Access Enforcement
  • AC-4 Information Flow Enforcement
  • AC-6 Least Privilege
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 6 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly enforces authorization decisions so an authenticated user cannot access static files belonging to other VDOMs.

prevent

Enforces information-flow policies between separate VDOM security domains, blocking the cross-VDOM file access described in the CVE.

prevent

Limits each account to the minimum privileges required for its own VDOM, reducing the impact of the missing authorization check.

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.AA-05 mostly match
prevents

PR.AA-05 mostly prevents CWE-285 via enforced policy, reviews, and least-privilege authorization decisions, yet CWE-285 remains only partially prevented because code-level check omissions or errors can still occur outside that single control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices catch and eliminate most authorization defects before release, yet a single broad outcome cannot address every design, role, and runtime facet of CWE-285.

PR.AA-01 partial match
prevents

PR.AA-01 supplies managed identities and access-request workflows that can support downstream authorization decisions, yet does nothing to enforce or verify authorization checks inside a product, leaving CWE-285 fully unaddressed by this control alone.

PR.IR-01 partial match
prevents

Network segmentation/zero-trust limits external reachability (partial prevention of exploitation) but leaves application-level authorization logic untouched, so the CWE remains fully introducible and only one facet of its risk is addressed.

PR.PS-05 none match
prevents

PR.PS-05 blocks unauthorized binaries/DNS while CWE-285 is an in-product authorization-check defect, so the control neither prevents the weakness nor removes any of its risk.

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.

prevents

Granular, policy-driven assignment of permissions and dynamic enforcement of those permissions prevent the incorrect or missing authorization decisions that lead to improper authorization flaws.

prevents

By requiring documented authorization rules and periodic policy reviews, the control makes it less likely that authorization decisions will be omitted or implemented inconsistently across applications.

prevents

Mapping access rights to information classification and business requirements forces correct enforcement of authorization decisions, blocking the incorrect authorization weakness at the policy and implementation stage.

detects

Independent reviewers evaluate whether authorization logic matches policy, thereby reducing the window in which incorrect or missing authorization checks remain in production.

detects

By requiring managers to verify that authorization decisions match policy and to remediate deviations, the control limits the persistence of incorrect or missing authorization checks.

prevents

Requiring authorization processes and privilege assignments to be specified during project initiation prevents downstream components from receiving overly broad or incorrect rights that would allow unauthorized actions.

References