CVE-2022-45859

Password recovery via weak /etc/shadow hashes

Published May 3, 2023 · Updated Oct 22, 2024

Insufficiently protected credentials in affected Fortinet FortiNAC releases allow local users with system access to retrieve passwords. The appliance stores CLI account password hashes with the weak $1 format in /etc/shadow, enabling offline recovery after the file is read. System-level local access is required; the flaw exposes stored user passwords without reported integrity or availability impact.

CVSS severity4.4
Medium
EPSS probability0.14%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Insufficiently protected credentials in affected Fortinet FortiNAC releases allow local users with system access to retrieve passwords. The appliance stores CLI account password hashes with the weak $1 format in /etc/shadow, enabling offline recovery after the file is read. System-level local access is required; the flaw exposes stored user passwords without reported integrity or availability impact.

The record

CVE
CVE-2022-45859
Published
May 3, 2023
Updated
Oct 22, 2024
Vendor
Fortinet
Product
FortiNAC
Classifications
CWE-522, T1003.008
Attack vector
local
Privileges
admin

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 3, 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=8.7.0 <=8.7.6
  2. Affected versionversion=8.8.0 <=8.8.11
  3. Affected versionversion=9.1.0 <=9.1.8
  4. Affected versionversion=9.2.0 <=9.2.6
  5. Affected versionversion=9.4.0 <=9.4.1

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesadmin

What is affected?

Fortinet · FortiNACversion=8.7.0 <=8.7.6; version=8.8.0 <=8.8.11; version=9.1.0 <=9.1.8; version=9.2.0 <=9.2.6; version=9.4.0 <=9.4.1

Published CVSS scores

4.4NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
4.1Fortinet, Inc.CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesadmin
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-522Insufficiently Protected Credentials
T1003.008OS Credential Dumping: /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow

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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