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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 26 Dec 2025.
FirewareOperating system · Watchguard

CVE-2025-14733

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-12-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 12.5.15 / 12.11.6 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 Out-of-bounds Write vulnerability in the WatchGuard Fireware OS iked process may allow a remote unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code. This vulnerability affects both the mobile user VPN with IKEv2 and the branch office VPN using IKEv2 when configured with a dynamic gateway peer. If the Firebox was previously configured with the mobile user VPN with IKEv2 or a branch office VPN using IKEv2 to a dynamic gateway peer, and both of those configurations have since been deleted, that Firebox may still be vulnerable if a branch office VPN to a static gateway peer is still configured.

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

An out-of-bounds write vulnerability in the WatchGuard Fireware OS iked process allows remote unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary code via malformed IKEv2 packets. The vulnerability affects mobile user VPN with IKEv2 and branch office VPN using IKEv2 with dynamic gateway peers, and persists even after those configurations are deleted if a static gateway branch office VPN remains.

MitigationApply WatchGuard's available firmware patches for Fireware OS to address this vulnerability in the iked process.

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
FirewareOperating system
Affected:>= 11.10.2, < 12.5.15>= 11.10.2, < 12.11.6>= 2025.1, < 2025.1.4

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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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. Check Fireware OS version
    Log into the Firebox web UI and navigate to System > About, or use the CLI command 'fwc -v' or 'version' to display the installed firmware version.
    Affected if The installed version is 11.10.2 or higher but below 12.5.15, OR 12.11.6 or higher but below 2025.1.4, OR 2025.1.0 through 2025.1.3.
  2. Verify IKEv2 VPN is enabled
    In the Firebox web UI, navigate to VPN > Mobile User VPN and VPN > Branch Office VPN to see if IKEv2 VPN configurations exist. In CLI, use 'show vpn' or similar commands to list active VPN configurations.
    Affected if Any IKEv2 VPN configuration exists for Mobile User VPN or Branch Office VPN.
  3. Identify dynamic gateway peer configuration
    In the Firebox web UI, examine the IKEv2 VPN gateway settings for both Mobile User VPN and Branch Office VPN. Look for peer configurations set to 'Dynamic' or 'Dynamic IP Address'. In CLI, examine the IKEv2 phase 1 configuration for dynamic peer settings.
    Affected if The IKEv2 VPN gateway is configured with a dynamic gateway peer (dynamic IP address) rather than a static peer IP.

The environment is affected if the Fireware OS version falls within the vulnerable ranges AND IKEv2 VPN is configured with a dynamic gateway peer for either Mobile User VPN or Branch Office VPN.

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 12.5.15 / 12.11.6 / 2025.1.4 or later
Fixed in 12.5.1512.11.62025.1.4
Interim mitigation

Apply WatchGuard's available firmware patches for Fireware OS to address this vulnerability in the iked process.

Recommended fix High confidence

Fireware 12.11.6 or later (for 11.x/12.x branches); Fireware 2025.1.4 or later (for 2025.1 branch)

  1. 1. Identify the currently running Fireware OS version by logging into the Firebox management interface or checking the device status.
  2. 2. Determine which version branch is currently in use (11.x, 12.x, or 2025.1).
  3. 3. For Fireware 11.x versions (11.10.2 through 11.12.4_Update1): Upgrade to Fireware 12.11.6 or later.
  4. 4. For Fireware 12.x versions (12.0 through 12.11.5): Upgrade to Fireware 12.11.6 or later.
  5. 5. For Fireware 2025.1 versions (2025.1 through 2025.1.3): Upgrade to Fireware 2025.1.4 or later.
  6. 6. Download the appropriate firmware image from the WatchGuard support portal (www.watchguard.com).
  7. 7. Upload and apply the firmware upgrade through the Firebox management interface or Fireware Web UI.
  8. 8. After upgrading, verify that the Mobile User VPN (IKEv2) and Branch Office VPN (IKEv2) configurations are functioning correctly with the dynamic gateway peer settings.
Caveat Firmware upgrades may introduce changes to VPN configuration syntax or behavior; review release notes before upgrading and test in a non-production environment

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

Fix this in Fireware Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2025-14733 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