CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2026-13728 — Watchguard Fireware security vulnerability

Medium CVSS 5.9

In exception circumstances, WatchGuard Fireware OS on a FireCluster may use a hard-coded encryption key to encrypt saved credentials for Access Portal resources. This vulnerability affects Fireware OS 12.1 up to and including 12.12 and 2025.1 up to and including 2026.2. This vulnerability does not affect devices that do not support the Access Portal feature or standalone Fireboxes not deployed in a FireCluster.

Severity
Medium
CVSS
5.9 (4.0)
Published
2026-07-03
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
operating-system
Weaknesses
CWE-798

Affected products

  • watchguard / fireware

Showing 1 representative product identities from 2 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

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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