Actively exploited · Published Nov 21, 2019 · Assigned by fortinet
CVE-2019-6693
Medium 6.5 Exploited Ransomware
In plain English
A medium-severity hard-coded credentials in FortiGate from Fortinet. Attackers are actively exploiting it in the wild (listed by CISA on June 25, 2025). It has been used in ransomware campaigns. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 6.6% (higher than 94% of all known vulnerabilities). Ready-made attack tooling exists: public proof-of-concept code. Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
CISA guidance
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Federal agencies must remediate by Jul 16, 2025.
Official description
Use of a hard-coded cryptographic key to cipher sensitive data in FortiOS configuration backup file may allow an attacker with access to the backup file to decipher the sensitive data, via knowledge of the hard-coded key. The aforementioned sensitive data includes users' passwords (except the administrator's password), private keys' passphrases and High Availability password (when set).
Affected products (as reported)
Weakness: CWE-798 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
References
- https://fortiguard.com/advisory/FG-IR-19-007 x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2019-6693 government-resource