FortiportalApplication · Fortinet
CVE-2017-7731
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 · uneditedA weak password recovery vulnerability in Fortinet FortiPortal versions 4.0.0 and below allows attacker to carry out information disclosure via the Forgotten Password feature.
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 confidenceFortinet FortiPortal versions 4.0.0 and below contains a weak password recovery mechanism in its Forgotten Password feature that allows unauthenticated attackers to perform information disclosure. The vulnerability enables attackers to potentially enumerate valid user accounts or obtain sensitive account-related information through the password reset workflow.
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
FortiportalApplication
<= 4.0.0CVSS 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
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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 FortiPortal versionAccess the FortiPortal admin interface or check system information page. Look for a version display in the About section or footer of the web interface. Alternatively, check the installation directory or consult the system's software inventory.Affected if The installed version is 4.0.0 or any version lower than 4.0.0
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Locate the Forgotten Password endpointNavigate to the FortiPortal login page and locate the 'Forgot Password' or 'Forgotten Password' link. Note the URL path of the password reset page (typically /password-reset, /forgot-password, or similar).Affected if The endpoint is accessible without authentication
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Test for user enumerationUse the Forgotten Password form to submit different usernames: first submit a known-valid username (such as 'admin' or 'administrator'), then submit a random invalid username. Compare the HTTP response codes, response times, and any error messages returned for each case.Affected if The responses differ between valid and invalid usernames (e.g., valid username shows 'password reset email sent' while invalid shows 'user not found')
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Inspect response messagesSubmit a test password reset request and examine the response body and HTTP status codes. Look for messages that explicitly confirm whether an account exists, such as 'User found' or 'Email sent' versus 'User does not exist' or 'Invalid username'.Affected if The system reveals whether a submitted username is valid through distinct error or success messages
If FortiPortal version is 4.0.0 or below AND the Forgotten Password endpoint is accessible to unauthenticated users, the environment is vulnerable to user enumeration via the password reset workflow.
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 dataFortinet should harden the Forgotten Password feature by implementing proper validation, preventing user enumeration, and ensuring no sensitive information is disclosed during the recovery process. Users should update to FortiPortal version 4.0.1 or later if available.
Fix this in Fortiportal
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,448.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-7731 — 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-2017-7731 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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