Forticlient Emergency Management ServerApplication · Fortinet
CVE-2020-9287
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 · uneditedAn Unsafe Search Path vulnerability in FortiClient EMS online installer 6.2.1 and below may allow a local attacker with control over the directory in which FortiClientEMSOnlineInstaller.exe resides to execute arbitrary code on the system via uploading malicious Filter Library DLL files in that directory.
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 · high confidenceAn Unsafe Search Path vulnerability in FortiClient EMS online installer 6.2.1 and below allows a local attacker who controls the directory containing FortiClientEMSOnlineInstaller.exe to place malicious Filter Library DLL files that the installer will load, enabling arbitrary code execution.
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
Forticlient Emergency Management ServerApplication
<= 6.2.1CVSS 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
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Locate FortiClient EMS installerSearch for FortiClientEMSOnlineInstaller.exe on the system. Check the file properties (right-click, Properties) to view the version information under the Details tab.Affected if The installer version displayed is 6.2.1 or lower, or no version info is shown but the file is from an older release
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Identify installer locationNote the full path where FortiClientEMSOnlineInstaller.exe resides. Common user-writable locations include Downloads folders, Desktop, or temp directories.Affected if The installer is run from a directory that any local user can write to, such as a Downloads folder, shared network folder, or temp directory
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Inspect directory for DLL filesList all files in the same directory as the installer. Look for DLL files with names that may be loaded by the installer, especially in the same folder as the exe.Affected if Unexpected or suspicious DLL files exist in the installer directory, particularly Filter Library DLLs or DLLs with names matching common Windows DLLs
A user is affected if they run FortiClient EMS online installer version 6.2.1 or below from a user-writable directory where a local attacker could place malicious DLL files.
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 dataUpdate FortiClient EMS online installer to version 6.2.2 or later. Additionally, ensure the installer is run only from trusted, controlled directories and not from user-writable locations such as downloads folders.
Fix this in Forticlient Emergency Management Server
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 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 $1,744.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-9287 — 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-2020-9287 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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- 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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