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Fortinet FirewallHardware / appliance · Fortinet

CVE-2005-1837

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2005-06-01
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Fortinet firewall running FortiOS 2.x contains a hardcoded username with the password set to the serial number, which allows local users with console access to gain privileges.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Fortinet FortiOS 2.x contains a hardcoded default account where the password is set to the device's serial number, allowing anyone with console access to authenticate as an administrator without knowing the actual credentials.

MitigationUpgrade to a supported FortiOS version and audit/disable any default accounts; restrict physical and console access to trusted personnel only.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Fortinet FirewallHardware / appliance
Affected:all versions

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify FortiOS version
    Run 'get system status' or 'show system version' via console or CLI to display the running FortiOS version
    Affected if The version displayed is FortiOS 2.x (any minor version)
  2. Locate the device serial number
    Run 'get system info' or 'show system info' via console/CLI to display the device serial number
    Affected if Serial number is retrievable via CLI - this confirms the value that could be used as the default password
  3. Check for default administrator account
    Run 'show system admin' or 'get system admin' via console/CLI to list all administrative accounts
    Affected if A default administrator account exists with no password configured or with password set to the serial number
  4. Assess console access exposure
    Review physical access controls and console/Telnet access configuration; check 'get system console' settings
    Affected if Console or Telnet access is enabled without sufficient IP restriction or physical security

You are affected if running FortiOS 2.x and console/Telnet access is available, since the default account password equals the device serial number.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade to a supported FortiOS version and audit/disable any default accounts; restrict physical and console access to trusted personnel only.

Fix this in Fortinet Firewall Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,110
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2005-1837 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data