ForticlientApplication · Fortinet
CVE-2019-15704
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 clear text storage of sensitive information vulnerability in FortiClient for Mac may allow a local attacker to read sensitive information logged in the console window when the user connects to an SSL VPN Gateway.
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 confidenceFortiClient for Mac logs sensitive connection information (likely credentials, session tokens, or authentication data) in clear text to the console window during SSL VPN connections. A local attacker with access to the system could read this exposed sensitive information from console logs.
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
ForticlientApplication
>= 6.0.0, <= 6.0.7= 6.2.0CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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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Confirm FortiClient for Mac is installedOpen Finder, go to /Applications/ and look for 'FortiClient' app, or run: ls /Applications/ | grep -i fortiAffected if FortiClient.app is not present in Applications folder - not affected
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Identify installed FortiClient versionRight-click FortiClient.app, select Get Info, or run: defaults read /Applications/FortiClient.app/Contents/Info CFBundleShortVersionStringAffected if Version is 6.0.0 through 6.0.7 inclusive, or exactly 6.2.0 - potentially affected
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Check if console logging is activeOpen Console.app (in /Applications/Utilities/), or run: log show --predicate 'process == "FortiClient"' --last 1h | head -50Affected if Console logs are being captured and accessible - could expose sensitive data
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Attempt SSL VPN connection and inspect logsInitiate an SSL VPN connection using FortiClient, then check Console.app or run: log show --predicate 'process == "FortiClient"' --last 10m | grep -i -E '(password|token|credential|auth|session)'Affected if Clear-text sensitive information appears in console output - confirmed vulnerable
User is affected if FortiClient for Mac version 6.0.0-6.0.7 or 6.2.0 is installed, console logging is enabled, and SSL VPN connections expose clear-text credentials or session tokens in console output.
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 dataDisable or clear console logging on affected FortiClient for Mac installations, and apply vendor patches when available from Fortinet.
Fix this in Forticlient
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-15704 — 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-2019-15704 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
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