Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-13224

Path Traversal in Watchguard Fireware 12.0 – 12.5.21

Published
30 September 2026
Modified
08 October 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 8.2
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:H/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
EPSS Score 0.0036 28th percentile
Risk Priority 29 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2026-13224 is a high-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Watchguard Fireware. Its CVSS base score is 8.2 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data from Local System (T1005); ranked at the 28th 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

A path traversal vulnerability in the Fireware OS WebUI management agent allows an authenticated administrator to read or list arbitrary files on the local filesystem by sending a specially crafted management request.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

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

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-49801Shared CWE-22, CWE-23
CVE-2024-50453Shared CWE-22, CWE-23
CVE-2023-1045Shared CWE-22, CWE-23
CVE-2024-20449Shared CWE-22, CWE-23
CVE-2024-35274Shared CWE-22, CWE-23
CVE-2025-46433Shared CWE-22, CWE-23
CVE-2023-42791Shared CWE-22, CWE-23
CVE-2024-54462Shared CWE-22, CWE-23
CVE-2024-13791Shared CWE-22, CWE-23
CVE-2023-37288Shared CWE-22, CWE-23

Affected Assets

watchguard
fireware
12.0 — 12.5.21 · 12.12 — 12.12.3 · 2025.0 — 2026.2.3

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

Enforces the intended directory access authorizations that path traversal would otherwise bypass.

Information-flow rules can be configured to reject traversals that would move data outside an approved directory boundary.

Least privilege reduces the impact of any unauthorized file access obtained via traversal.

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

Input validation directly neutralizes special path elements before pathname construction occurs.

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-02 partial match
blocks

Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly require input validation and path sanitization that prevent relative traversal.

PR.AA-05 none match
blocks

PR.AA-05 defines and reviews access policies but does not address code-level pathname neutralization, so neither direction prevents CWE-22.

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.

removes
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References