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FortiportalApplication · Fortinet

CVE-2021-36176

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-11-02
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.0.6 or later.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 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
Multiple uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerabilities in the web interface of FortiPortal before 6.0.6 may allow a single low-privileged user to induce a denial of service via multiple HTTP requests.

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

Uncontrolled resource consumption in FortiPortal's web interface allows a single low-privileged authenticated user to exhaust server resources through repeated HTTP requests, causing denial of service. The vulnerability stems from missing or insufficient rate limiting, request throttling, or resource pooling controls on the web interface.

MitigationUpgrade FortiPortal to version 6.0.6 or later. As a compensating control, implement rate limiting or request throttling at the WAF or load balancer level to restrict the number of requests per user/IP within a given time window.

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
Affected:>= 4.0.0, < 6.0.6

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
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/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 checks

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

  1. Identify if FortiPortal is installed
    Locate the FortiPortal installation in your environment and confirm the application is running. Check for FortiPortal services, processes, or installed directories.
    Affected if FortiPortal is present and running in your environment
  2. Determine the installed FortiPortal version
    Access the FortiPortal admin interface or check the system information page to find the exact version number. Alternatively, check installation files, about dialog, or version logs.
    Affected if The version is 4.0.0 or higher but lower than 6.0.6
  3. Verify the web interface is accessible
    Confirm that the FortiPortal web interface (HTTP/HTTPS ports) is exposed and reachable from network locations where low-privileged users can access it.
    Affected if The web interface is exposed to users with low-privileged accounts
  4. Check for rate limiting or throttling controls
    Inspect the FortiPortal configuration, WAF settings, or load balancer rules to determine if rate limiting, request throttling, or resource pooling controls are implemented for the web interface.
    Affected if No rate limiting or request throttling is configured and low-privileged users can access the web interface

You are affected if FortiPortal version 4.0.0 through 6.0.5 is installed and its web interface is accessible to low-privileged authenticated users without rate limiting controls in place.

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 6.0.6 or later
Fixed in 6.0.6
Interim mitigation

Upgrade FortiPortal to version 6.0.6 or later. As a compensating control, implement rate limiting or request throttling at the WAF or load balancer level to restrict the number of requests per user/IP within a given time window.

Recommended fix High confidence

FortiPortal 6.0.6 or later

  1. 1. Identify the current FortiPortal version by accessing the web interface or checking system information.
  2. 2. Confirm the current version is between 4.0.0 and 6.0.6 (exclusive).
  3. 3. Review FortiPortal upgrade documentation for the upgrade procedure.
  4. 4. Perform a full backup of FortiPortal configuration and data before upgrading.
  5. 5. Download FortiPortal version 6.0.6 or the latest stable release from Fortinet's support portal.
  6. 6. Execute the upgrade following Fortinet's recommended upgrade path (direct or incremental based on version gap).
  7. 7. Verify the upgrade completed successfully and the web interface is accessible.
  8. 8. Confirm the new version is 6.0.6 or higher.
Caveat Review FortiPortal release notes for any configuration or feature changes between your current version and 6.0.6; ensure compatibility with integrated systems

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

Fix this in Fortiportal Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.

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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-2021-36176 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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