CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2023-40717 — Fortinet Fortitester security vulnerability

High CVSS 7.8

A use of hard-coded credentials vulnerability [CWE-798] in FortiTester 2.3.0 through 7.2.3 may allow an attacker who managed to get a shell on the device to access the database via shell commands.

Severity
High
CVSS
7.8 (3.1)
Published
2023-09-13
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-798

Affected products

  • fortinet / fortitester

Matched remediation archetype

Authentication bypass and missing authentication

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Check exposure

  • Map every affected endpoint and protocol path, including alternate ports, legacy routes, recovery flows, service accounts, and machine-to-machine access.
  • Confirm which deployments enable the affected authentication mode and whether the interface is reachable from untrusted networks.
  • Review session, token, credential, and proxy trust configuration without attempting account takeover.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the supported fix and centralize fail-closed authentication before protected request handling.
  • Remove default or embedded credentials, rotate affected secrets and sessions, and bind authentication decisions to the intended audience and channel.
  • Add negative tests for alternate routes, malformed or absent credentials, recovery flows, and proxy-derived identity.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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