CVE-2022-38378

Privilege escalation via self-modified administrator profiles

Published Feb 16, 2023 · Updated Oct 22, 2024

Improper privilege management in Fortinet FortiOS and FortiProxy allows remote authenticated users to gain read-write privileges. The Administrator Users controls let an administrator change the same account's custom access profile without enforcing its existing restrictions. Access to that System subsection is required; the resulting profile permits broader configuration changes through the CLI or GUI.

CVSS severity6.0
Medium
EPSS probability0.24%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
Coverage for this vulnerability

See if you're affected

Explore vulnerability checks for your environment with Hinoki.

Book a demo

Summary

What happened

Improper privilege management in Fortinet FortiOS and FortiProxy allows remote authenticated users to gain read-write privileges. The Administrator Users controls let an administrator change the same account's custom access profile without enforcing its existing restrictions. Access to that System subsection is required; the resulting profile permits broader configuration changes through the CLI or GUI.

The record

CVE
CVE-2022-38378
Published
Feb 16, 2023
Updated
Oct 22, 2024
Vendor
Fortinet
Product
FortiOS
Classifications
CWE-269, T1098
Attack vector
local
Privileges
admin

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Feb 16, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Oct 22, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

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

  1. Affected versionversion=6.0.0 <=6.0.16
  2. Affected versionversion=6.2.0 <=6.2.12
  3. Affected versionversion=6.4.0 <=6.4.11
  4. Affected versionversion=7.0.0 <=7.0.7
  5. Affected versionversion=7.2.0

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesadmin

What is affected?

Fortinet · FortiOSversion=6.0.0 <=6.0.16; version=6.2.0 <=6.2.12; version=6.4.0 <=6.4.11; version=7.0.0 <=7.0.7; version=7.2.0
Fortinet · FortiProxyversion=1.1.0 <=1.1.6; version=1.2.0 <=1.2.13; version=2.0.0 <=2.0.11; version=7.0.0 <=7.0.7; version=7.2.0 <=7.2.1

Published CVSS scores

4.2FortinetCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
6.0NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

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)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesadmin
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-269Improper Privilege Management
T1098Account Manipulation

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

See the directory against your own environment.

Your stack

Check the software in your environment

Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.

Book a demo