CVE-2021-24011

Administrator-to-root escalation via sudo abuse

Published May 10, 2021 · Updated Oct 25, 2024

Privilege escalation in Fortinet FortiNAC 8.8.1 and earlier allows remote authenticated users to gain root access through sudo. Fortinet identifies abused sudo privileges as the mechanism but has not disclosed the permitted command, sudoers rule, or input handling that enables the escalation. Administrative access is required, and successful exploitation converts that product-level authority into root control of the FortiNAC appliance.

CVSS severity6.3
Medium
EPSS probability0.81%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Privilege escalation in Fortinet FortiNAC 8.8.1 and earlier allows remote authenticated users to gain root access through sudo. Fortinet identifies abused sudo privileges as the mechanism but has not disclosed the permitted command, sudoers rule, or input handling that enables the escalation. Administrative access is required, and successful exploitation converts that product-level authority into root control of the FortiNAC appliance.

The record

CVE
CVE-2021-24011
Published
May 10, 2021
Updated
Oct 25, 2024
Vendor
Fortinet
Product
FortiNAC
Classifications
T1548.003
Attack vector
Unavailable
Privileges
admin

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 10, 2021CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Oct 25, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=FortiNAC 8.8.1 and below

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorUnavailable in this record.
Required privilegesadmin

What is affected?

Fortinet · FortiNACversion=FortiNAC 8.8.1 and below

Published CVSS scores

9.0NIST NVDAV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C
7.2NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
6.3Fortinet, Inc.CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
VectorUnavailable
Privilegesadmin
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

T1548.003Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism: Sudo and Sudo Caching

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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