How severe is CVE-2023-48788?

CVE-2023-48788 has a CVSS score of 9.8/10, rated CRITICAL. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which products are affected by CVE-2023-48788?

CVE-2023-48788 affects the following products: fortinet forticlient enterprise management server.

How do I patch CVE-2023-48788?

No patch has shipped for CVE-2023-48788 yet — track the fortinet forticlient enterprise management server advisory for a fixed release and apply the workarounds below in the meantime.

How do I detect CVE-2023-48788 across my infrastructure?

Inventory every fortinet forticlient enterprise management server deployment and check each version against the affected-products list above.

How do I mitigate CVE-2023-48788 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Until you can upgrade, make sure every query built from user input uses parameterised statements or a prepared-statement API rather than string concatenation, and reduce the database account's privileges so an injected query cannot read or alter data beyond what the feature needs. Alongside that, restrict the management interface to trusted networks and apply the vendor's recommended configuration mitigations.

Is CVE-2023-48788 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 6 known exploit references for CVE-2023-48788, including 5 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2023-48788?

CVE-2023-48788 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 98.4%, placing it in the 100th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A score above 50% indicates significantly elevated exploitation risk — immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Is CVE-2023-48788 in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog?

Yes. CVE-2023-48788 (Fortinet FortiClient EMS SQL Injection Vulnerability) was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 2024-03-25. CISA required all US federal civilian agencies to remediate this vulnerability by 2024-04-15. The required action was: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. This CVE has been used in known ransomware campaigns. Being listed in the KEV catalog is the strongest possible confirmation of active exploitation — treat this as a critical priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2023-48788?

CVE-2023-48788 is classified as SQL Injection (CWE-89). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation. This is a high-impact weakness class that often enables remote code execution or data exposure.

Which products and versions are affected by CVE-2023-48788?

CVE-2023-48788 affects fortinet forticlient enterprise management server. Check the affected-products list on this page against your deployed version to confirm exposure.

When was CVE-2023-48788 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2023-48788 was published on March 12, 2024 and was last updated on October 21, 2025. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🛡️

CISA KEV · ACTIVELY EXPLOITED

CRITICAL severity

CVE-2023-48788 — Forticlient Enterprise Management Server

CRITICAL

CVE-2023-48788 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) SQL Injection vulnerability in fortinet forticlient enterprise management server. It is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2024-03-25) 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.

A improper neutralization of special elements used in an sql command ('sql injection') in Fortinet FortiClientEMS version 7.2.0 through 7.2.2, FortiClientEMS 7.0.1 through 7.0.10 allows…

Published

Mar 12, 2024

Updated

Oct 21, 2025

Affected

1 product

Patched

See advisory

Exploits

6 known

Exploitation data as of Oct 22, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, CISA KEV, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

Actively exploited in the wild

Confirmed by CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2024-03-25 — including use in ransomware campaigns. Federal agencies were required to remediate by 2024-04-15.
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-2023-48788.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

98.4%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Very High Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs100th percentile — riskier than 100% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

CVE-2023-48788 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 395,249 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the ≥ 90% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.

Description

A improper neutralization of special elements used in an sql command ('sql injection') in Fortinet FortiClientEMS version 7.2.0 through 7.2.2, FortiClientEMS 7.0.1 through 7.0.10 allows attacker to execute unauthorized code or commands via specially crafted packets.

Affected Products

1 product · 2 configurations

Application

forticlient enterprise management serverfortinet

all

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.