dbcve.org
Fortibalancer 400 FirmwareOperating system · Fortinet

CVE-2014-2723

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

A configuration error in FortiBalancer 400, 1000, 2000, and 3000 load balancer appliances allows remote attackers to gain privileged access via SSH. The vulnerability stems from improper SSH configuration rather than a software defect.

MitigationReview and harden SSH configuration on affected FortiBalancer appliances, including disabling root direct login, enforcing key-based authentication, and restricting access to authorized networks.

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 FortiBalancer model
    Check the appliance model via command 'get system status' or 'show system info' or physically label the device
    Affected if Model is FortiBalancer 400, 1000, 2000, or 3000
  2. Verify SSH service is enabled
    Check if SSH daemon is running via command 'diagnose system ps aux | grep sshd' or check listening ports with 'diagnose network netstat -an | grep :22'
    Affected if SSH service is active and listening on port 22
  3. Check if root login is permitted in SSH configuration
    Inspect SSH daemon configuration file, typically via 'show sshd config' or by viewing /etc/ssh/sshd_config and searching for 'PermitRootLogin' directive
    Affected if PermitRootLogin is set to 'yes' or 'without-password' or is absent (defaulting to allowed)
  4. Check SSH authentication method configuration
    Review SSH configuration for 'PasswordAuthentication' and 'PubkeyAuthentication' settings via 'show sshd config' or direct file inspection
    Affected if PasswordAuthentication is set to 'yes' or PubkeyAuthentication is not enforced
  5. Verify SSH access restrictions
    Check for 'AllowUsers', 'AllowGroups', or 'ListenAddress' restrictions in SSH config, or verify network access control lists via 'diagnose network ip filter' or similar
    Affected if SSH is bound to all interfaces (0.0.0.0) with no IP-based access restrictions or allow-lists configured

A user is affected if they run a FortiBalancer 400/1000/2000/3000 with SSH enabled and the SSH configuration permits root login, uses password authentication, or is accessible from untrusted networks without restrictions.

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 harden SSH configuration on affected FortiBalancer appliances, including disabling root direct login, enforcing key-based authentication, and restricting access to authorized networks.

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
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,152.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2014-2723 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2014-2723 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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