FortiosOperating system · Fortinet
CVE-2013-4604
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 · uneditedFortinet FortiOS before 5.0.3 on FortiGate devices does not properly restrict Guest capabilities, which allows remote authenticated users to read, modify, or delete the records of arbitrary users by leveraging the Guest role.
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 confidenceFortiOS before 5.0.3 contains an authorization bypass where the Guest role improperly retains elevated privileges, allowing authenticated guest users to read, modify, or delete arbitrary user records in the system.
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
FortiosOperating system
<= 5.0.2= 5.0.1CVSS 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
- Single
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify FortiOS versionLog into the FortiGate CLI and run 'get system status' or 'fwm -d' to retrieve the firmware version. Alternatively, in the web GUI, go to System > Dashboard > Status to view the Firmware version.Affected if The installed version is 5.0.2, 5.0.1, or any version lower than 5.0.3 (e.g., 5.0.0, 4.x branches)
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Verify guest user accounts existIn FortiOS CLI, run 'get user guest' or 'show user guest' to list configured guest accounts. In the web GUI, navigate to User & Device > User > Guest Management to see if any guest users are defined.Affected if Guest user accounts are configured and active in the system
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Confirm guest role is assignedCheck the guest user configuration to verify they are assigned the default 'guest' role or a custom role. Use 'show user default' in CLI or inspect the guest user profile in the web GUI under User & Device > User > Guest Management.Affected if Guest users are assigned a role that retains elevated privileges beyond read-only guest access
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Test guest user permissions (if safe to do)Log in as a guest user and attempt to access, modify, or delete user records outside the guest group. Check if the guest account can perform administrative actions on the user database.Affected if An authenticated guest user can read, modify, or delete arbitrary user records in the system
A system is affected if it runs FortiOS version 5.0.2 or lower and has guest user accounts configured, particularly if those guests can access or manipulate user records beyond their intended scope.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpgrade FortiOS to version 5.0.3 or later to enforce proper Guest role restrictions and prevent unauthorized user record manipulation.
Fix this in Fortios
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,544.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-4604 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2013-4604 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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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.
- 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