Threats / Fortinet / CVE-2018-13382
CVE-2018-13382
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Fortinet FortiOS and FortiProxy vulnerability
An improper authorization flaw in Fortinet FortiOS and FortiProxy SSL VPN web portal allows unauthenticated attackers to modify passwords, enabling unauthorized access and account takeover.
Verdict
Today item, not a backlog item.
This vulnerability permits unauthenticated password modification on SSL VPN portals, directly compromising account security. Active exploitation and ransomware campaigns demonstrate severe real-world impact. Immediate patching is critical for all affected deployments.
CISA KEV Yes · 2022-01-105Ransomware use Flagged5EPSS 0.81691 (verify live)6Exploit Weaponized · public PoC7CVSS 9.13CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Impact: total4
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreExploit available
Fully weaponized — public exploit code is cataloged for this vulnerability.We link the existence of the exploit; we do not host or redistribute payloads.
Reported exploitation
5 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-01-10), flagged for known ransomware use.
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.81691 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 9.1 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N) · Affected: Fortinet, FortiOS and FortiProxy. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CNA-assigned (CVE.org), version 3.1, set at disclosure.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-285 Improper Authorization — weakness family: Authorization / access control.CWE assignment from the public NVD record (may be stale); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Technical Impact: totalCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 951 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I access the SSL VPN web portal without authentication credentials.
Business
Perimeter security controls fail to enforce authentication on critical access points.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I exploit the authorization bypass to modify an existing user's password.
Business
Legitimate user accounts are compromised, enabling lateral movement into protected networks.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I use the hijacked credentials to establish persistent VPN access and deploy ransomware.
Business
Critical infrastructure and data are encrypted; operations halt and ransom demands follow.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05