Threats / Fortinet / CVE-2022-40684
CVE-2022-40684
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Fortinet Multiple Products vulnerability
Fortinet multiple products contain an authentication bypass vulnerability allowing unauthenticated attackers to perform administrative operations via specially crafted HTTP/HTTPS requests.
Verdict
Today item, not a backlog item.
An unauthenticated remote attacker can bypass authentication controls to access and manipulate administrative functions on affected Fortinet devices, enabling unauthorized system compromise and potential lateral movement.
CISA KEV Yes · 2022-10-115Ransomware use Flagged5EPSS 0.99984 (verify live)6Exploit Weaponized · public PoC7CVSS 9.83CISA 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
830 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 2022-10-11), flagged for known ransomware use.
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.99984 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 9.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:U/RC:C) · Affected: Fortinet, Multiple Products. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CNA-assigned (CVE.org), version 3.1, set at disclosure.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-288 Auth Bypass via Alternate Path — weakness family: Authentication.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 the same day 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.
Public exploit available
Public exploit tooling is catalogued for this CVE (a functional/weaponized public exploit). Catalog entries: Metasploit module, nuclei template. We link the catalog page(s) only — no payload or code is hosted or restated here.Link, never host — the catalog page is the source; basicsecurity.net does not redistribute payloads.
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 craft HTTP or HTTPS requests that exploit the authentication bypass to reach the administrative interface without credentials.
Business
Administrative access is exposed to any network-connected attacker without requiring valid authentication.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I perform unauthorized administrative operations on the compromised device to modify configurations or extract sensitive data.
Business
Device security posture is altered and confidential information may be accessed or exfiltrated.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I establish persistence or pivot to other network resources using the compromised administrative access.
Business
The breach extends beyond the initial device to compromise additional infrastructure and systems.
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