CVE-2024-12728Network attack vector

Privileged SSH access via persistent HA passphrase

Published Dec 19, 2024 · Updated Dec 21, 2024

Weak credentials in Sophos Firewall before 20.0 MR3 allow remote attackers to gain privileged system access through SSH. During HA cluster initialization, the firewall suggests a non-random SSH passphrase and fails to deactivate it after HA establishment. Exploitation requires an HA deployment with SSH enabled and exposes a privileged system account; Sophos reports that about 0.5% of devices were affected.

CVSS severity9.8
Critical
EPSS probability0.95%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Weak credentials in Sophos Firewall before 20.0 MR3 allow remote attackers to gain privileged system access through SSH. During HA cluster initialization, the firewall suggests a non-random SSH passphrase and fails to deactivate it after HA establishment. Exploitation requires an HA deployment with SSH enabled and exposes a privileged system account; Sophos reports that about 0.5% of devices were affected.

The record

CVE
CVE-2024-12728
Published
Dec 19, 2024
Updated
Dec 21, 2024
Vendor
Sophos
Product
Sophos Firewall
Classifications
CWE-1391, CAPEC-212, T1078
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Dec 19, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Dec 21, 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=0 <20.0 MR3 (20.0.3)

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Sophos · Sophos Firewallversion=0 <20.0 MR3 (20.0.3)

Published CVSS scores

9.8SophosCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-1391Use of Weak Credentials
CAPEC-212Functionality Misuse
T1078Valid Accounts

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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