Privileged code execution via format-string arguments
Published Mar 12, 2024 · Updated Jan 14, 2026
Externally controlled format strings in Fortinet management appliances allow privileged attackers to execute code via crafted command arguments. Fortinet identifies the crafted arguments as the input but has not disclosed the affected parser, function, or unsafe formatting call. Exploitation requires high local privileges and grants code execution affecting appliance confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Summary
What happened
Externally controlled format strings in Fortinet management appliances allow privileged attackers to execute code via crafted command arguments. Fortinet identifies the crafted arguments as the input but has not disclosed the affected parser, function, or unsafe formatting call. Exploitation requires high local privileges and grants code execution affecting appliance confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-41842
- Published
- Mar 12, 2024
- Updated
- Jan 14, 2026
- Vendor
- Fortinet
- Product
- FortiManager
- Classifications
- CWE-134, T1059
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- admin
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Mar 12, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jan 14, 2026Record 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.
- Affected versionversion=6.2.0 <=6.2.12
- Affected versionversion=6.2.0 <=6.2.13
- Affected versionversion=6.4.0 <=6.4.14
- Affected versionversion=6.4.0 <=6.4.15
- Affected versionversion=7.0.0 <=7.0.9
- Affected versionversion=7.2.0 <=7.2.3
- Affected versionversion=7.4.0 <=7.4.1
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
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.
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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