Administrator access via exposed management interfaces
Published Feb 24, 2022 · Updated Oct 21, 2025
Privilege escalation in WatchGuard Firebox and XTM running Fireware OS 12.0 through 12.7.2 allows remote authenticated users to gain admin access. WatchGuard has not disclosed the faulty management-session operation; exposed WSM or WebUI access accepts unprivileged credentials and yields a privileged session. Exploitation requires management access over the network, and observed attacks depended on nondefault unrestricted Internet exposure.
Summary
What happened
Privilege escalation in WatchGuard Firebox and XTM running Fireware OS 12.0 through 12.7.2 allows remote authenticated users to gain admin access. WatchGuard has not disclosed the faulty management-session operation; exposed WSM or WebUI access accepts unprivileged credentials and yields a privileged session. Exploitation requires management access over the network, and observed attacks depended on nondefault unrestricted Internet exposure.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2022-23176
- Published
- Feb 24, 2022
- Updated
- Oct 21, 2025
- Vendor
- Unknown vendor
- Product
- Unknown product
- Classifications
- T1190
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Feb 24, 2022CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Oct 21, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.
Published CVSS scores
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Reported exploitation
- Sandworm exploitation through Cyclops Blinkthreat actor
- CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog listingknown exploited catalog
Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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