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ForticlientApplication · Fortinet

CVE-2021-32592

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-12-01
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.4.7 or later.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges

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
An unsafe search path vulnerability in FortiClientWindows 7.0.0, 6.4.6 and below, 6.2.x, 6.0.x and FortiClientEMS 7.0.0, 6.4.6 and below, 6.2.x, 6.0.x may allow an attacker to perform a DLL Hijack attack on affected devices via a malicious OpenSSL engine library in the search path.

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 confidence

A DLL hijacking vulnerability exists in FortiClientWindows and FortiClientEMS where an unsafe search path allows a malicious OpenSSL engine library to be loaded, potentially enabling code execution with the privileges of the affected application.

MitigationApply vendor patches to upgrade FortiClientWindows and FortiClientEMS to patched versions; until then, ensure only trusted libraries are in the application search path and avoid running the software from untrusted network locations.

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
Affected:>= 6.0.0, <= 6.0.9>= 6.2.0, <= 6.2.9>= 6.4.0, < 6.4.7= 7.0.0
Forticlient Enterprise Management ServerApplication
Affected:>= 6.0.0, <= 6.0.6>= 6.2.0, <= 6.2.9>= 6.4.0, < 6.4.7= 7.0.0

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
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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify FortiClient installation
    Open Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run 'Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product | Where-Object {$_.Name -like "*FortiClient*"}' in PowerShell to list installed FortiClient products
    Affected if FortiClient or FortiClientEMS appears in installed programs
  2. Determine installed version
    Right-click the FortiClient icon, select 'Help' > 'About', or check the version in Programs and Features. On the command line, navigate to the FortiClient installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\Fortinet\FortiClient\) and run 'FortiClient.exe -v' if supported
    Affected if The version falls within 6.0.0-6.0.9, 6.2.0-6.2.9, 6.4.0-6.4.6, or 7.0.0 for FortiClient; or 6.0.0-6.0.6, 6.2.0-6.2.9, 6.4.0-6.4.6, or 7.0.0 for FortiClientEMS
  3. Inspect application search path
    Run 'echo %PATH%' in a command prompt opened from the FortiClient installation directory. Also check the working directory from which FortiClient is launched. Use Process Explorer or 'wmic process where name="FortiClient.exe" get ProcessId,ExecutablePath' to verify the running application's path
    Affected if The PATH contains directories outside the FortiClient installation folder, or the application is launched from a network share or untrusted directory
  4. Check for OpenSSL engine libraries in search path
    Search for OpenSSL engine files (.dll files with 'engine' in the name) in directories listed in the PATH that precede the FortiClient bin directory, or in the current working directory. Use 'dir /s /b C:\*.dll 2>nul | findstr /i engine' across accessible drives if permissions allow
    Affected if OpenSSL engine DLL files exist in directories that would be searched before the legitimate FortiClient OpenSSL libraries, allowing potential DLL hijacking

A user is affected if FortiClient or FortiClientEMS is installed with a version matching the affected ranges AND the application search path contains untrusted directories where a malicious OpenSSL engine DLL could be loaded.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 6.4.7 or later
Fixed in 6.4.7
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor patches to upgrade FortiClientWindows and FortiClientEMS to patched versions; until then, ensure only trusted libraries are in the application search path and avoid running the software from untrusted network locations.

Recommended fix High confidence

FortiClient: 6.4.7+, 6.2.10+, 6.0.10+, or 7.0.1+ | FortiClientEMS: 6.4.7+, 6.2.10+, 6.0.7+, or 7.0.1+

  1. 1. Identify whether you are running FortiClient or FortiClient Enterprise Management Server (EMS)
  2. 2. For FortiClient: upgrade to version 6.4.7 or later, 6.2.10 or later, 6.0.10 or later, or 7.0.1 or later
  3. 3. For FortiClientEMS: upgrade to version 6.4.7 or later, 6.2.10 or later, 6.0.7 or later, or 7.0.1 or later
  4. 4. Download the updated installer from the Fortinet support portal (support.fortinet.com)
  5. 5. Uninstall the current version or deploy the new version via your management infrastructure
  6. 6. Verify the installation completed successfully and confirm the new version is running
Caveat Review Fortinet release notes for new features or configuration changes between your current version and the target version

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Forticlient Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
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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-2021-32592 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