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FortiwlcApplication · Fortinet

CVE-2016-7560

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-10-05
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 6.1-2-29 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
The rsyncd server in Fortinet FortiWLC 6.1-2-29 and earlier, 7.0-9-1, 7.0-10-0, 8.0-5-0, 8.1-2-0, and 8.2-4-0 has a hardcoded rsync account, which allows remote attackers to read or write to arbitrary files via unspecified vectors.

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

The rsyncd server in Fortinet FortiWLC contains a hardcoded rsync account with unspecified credentials that allows remote unauthenticated attackers to read or write arbitrary files on the affected system. This is a pre-authentication vulnerability in the rsync daemon service.

MitigationApply vendor-supplied patches for affected FortiWLC versions; if patches are unavailable, disable the rsyncd service and restrict network access to prevent external exploitation.

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
FortiwlcApplication
Affected:<= 6.1-2-29= 7.0-9-1= 7.0-10-0= 8.0-5-0= 8.1-2-0= 8.2-4-0

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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 FortiWLC version
    Run 'show system info' or check the WebUI dashboard for the software version number
    Affected if The version matches any of these: <= 6.1-2-29, = 7.0-9-1, = 7.0-10-0, = 8.0-5-0, = 8.1-2-0, = 8.2-4-0
  2. Verify rsyncd service is enabled
    Check the rsync daemon configuration or running processes: look for rsyncd in the service configuration or run 'ps aux | grep rsync' to confirm the daemon is active
    Affected if The rsyncd service is enabled or running on the system
  3. Confirm rsync port accessibility
    Check if TCP port 873 (default rsync port) is listening and accessible: run 'netstat -tlnp | grep 873' or scan the management interface from an external host
    Affected if Port 873 is open and accessible from untrusted networks

You are affected if your FortiWLC version matches the affected versions AND the rsyncd service is enabled with port 873 accessible from your network.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 6.1-2-29
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor-supplied patches for affected FortiWLC versions; if patches are unavailable, disable the rsyncd service and restrict network access to prevent external exploitation.

Fix this in Fortiwlc Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
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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-2016-7560 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