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Fortibalancer 400 FirmwareOperating system · Fortinet

CVE-2014-2721

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-03-19
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable 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
In FortiBalancer 400, 1000, 2000 and 3000, a platform-specific remote access vulnerability has been discovered that may allow a remote user to gain privileged access to affected systems using SSH. The vulnerability is caused by a configuration error, and is not the result of an underlying SSH defect.

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 · moderate confidence

FortiBalancer 400, 1000, 2000, and 3000 appliances contain a configuration error that allows remote attackers to gain privileged access via SSH. This is not a software vulnerability in SSH itself but rather a misconfiguration of the SSH service that exposes privileged access to unauthorized users.

MitigationReview and correct the SSH service configuration on affected FortiBalancer appliances to restrict access and ensure proper authentication and authorization controls are enforced. Consider firmware update if vendor-provided.

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
Fortibalancer 400 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Fortibalancer 1000 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Fortibalancer 2000 FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Fortibalancer 3000 FirmwareOperating system
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
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 the appliance model
    Check the device model or firmware version through the management interface or console boot messages. Confirm it is a FortiBalancer 400, 1000, 2000, or 3000 appliance.
    Affected if The appliance is a FortiBalancer 400, 1000, 2000, or 3000 model running any firmware version.
  2. Verify SSH service status
    Check if the SSH service is enabled and listening on the appliance. Use commands such as 'show system interface' or review the SSH service configuration through the management console.
    Affected if SSH service is enabled and accessible on the appliance.
  3. Review SSH authentication configuration
    Examine the SSH service configuration for authentication settings. Look for configuration options related to authentication methods, privilege separation, and authorized key management.
    Affected if SSH configuration allows authentication without proper credential validation or permits empty passwords.
  4. Inspect SSH access control settings
    Review SSH access control lists or firewall policies that govern which IP addresses or networks can connect to the SSH service.
    Affected if SSH service is accessible from untrusted networks without IP restrictions or access controls.
  5. Check for unauthorized privileged accounts
    Review the list of user accounts with administrative or root-level privileges on the appliance. Compare against expected authorized accounts.
    Affected if There are unexpected or unauthorized accounts with privileged access, or default credentials remain in use.

A user is affected if they have a FortiBalancer 400, 1000, 2000, or 3000 appliance with SSH service enabled and accessible without proper authentication restrictions or access controls configured.

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

Review and correct the SSH service configuration on affected FortiBalancer appliances to restrict access and ensure proper authentication and authorization controls are enforced. Consider firmware update if vendor-provided.

Fix this in Fortibalancer 400 Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,970
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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-2014-2721 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