CVE-2022-40684
CRITICALCVE-2022-40684 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) Improper Authentication vulnerability. It is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-10-11) and has been used in ransomware campaigns — treat it as actively exploited and patch now. No vendor fix is recorded yet; mitigation options are listed below.
An authentication bypass using an alternate path or channel [CWE-288] in Fortinet FortiOS version 7.2.0 through 7.2.1 and 7.0.0 through 7.0.6, FortiProxy version 7.2.0 and version 7.0.0…
Exploitation Status
Actively exploited in the wild
- Confirmed by CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2022-10-11 — including use in ransomware campaigns. Federal agencies were required to remediate by 2022-11-01.
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA (KEV catalog and SSVC triage) for CVE-2022-40684.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2022-40684 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). In the shaded patch-first corner (EPSS 50%+, CVSS 7.0+).
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 394,803 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the ≥ 90% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Description
An authentication bypass using an alternate path or channel [CWE-288] in Fortinet FortiOS version 7.2.0 through 7.2.1 and 7.0.0 through 7.0.6, FortiProxy version 7.2.0 and version 7.0.0 through 7.0.6 and FortiSwitchManager version 7.2.0 and 7.0.0 allows an unauthenticated atttacker to perform operations on the administrative interface via specially crafted HTTP or HTTPS requests.
Affected Products
fortiosfortinetfortiproxyfortinetfortiswitchmanagerfortinetResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
FortiOS_ FortiProxy_ FortiSwitchManager v7.2.1 - Authentication Bypass
by Felipe Alcantara · Mar 27, 2023
Fortinet FortiOS_ FortiProxy_ and FortiSwitchManager 7.2.0 - Authentication bypass
by ub3rsick · Apr 16, 2025
Detection & mitigation playbook
VulnerabilityDetect
Identify every host running the affected component and compare the installed build against the fixed version below — for source-built or distro-packaged software the version string, not a lockfile, is the source of truth (`dpkg -l`, `rpm -q`, or the binary's own `--version`).
Remediation status
No fixed release is recorded for CVE-2022-40684 yet. Track the upstream advisory, and apply the exposure-reduction steps below in the meantime.
Mitigate without a patch
Put an independent control in front of the weakness: restrict the affected endpoint or interface to trusted networks, require an additional authentication factor or proxy-level check, and invalidate existing sessions and credentials in case the flaw has already been used.
How to detect CVE-2022-40684
A community-maintained Nuclei template exists for this CVE. You can scan for it directly:
nuclei -id cve-2022-40684 -u https://target- Template
- Fortinet - Authentication Bypass
- Severity
- critical
- Impact
- Successful exploitation of this vulnerability allows an attacker to bypass authentication and gain unauthorized access to the affected device.
- Remediation
- Apply the necessary security patches or firmware updates provided by Fortinet to mitigate this vulnerability.
Template by ProjectDiscovery nuclei-templates (Shockwave, nagli, carlosvieira), MIT licensed. View the full template. Scan only systems you are authorised to test.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2022-40684 in your dependencies?
Find it across , including transitive dependencies.