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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 10 Aug 2026.
FortiosOperating system · Fortinet

CVE-2025-68686

MEDIUM · 5.9 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-02-10
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 7.4.7 / 7.6.2 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 Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor vulnerability [CWE-200] vulnerability in Fortinet FortiOS 7.6.0 through 7.6.1, FortiOS 7.4.0 through 7.4.6, FortiOS 7.2 all versions, FortiOS 7.0 all versions, FortiOS 6.4 all versions may allow a remote unauthenticated attacker to bypass the patch developed for the symbolic link persistency mechanism observed in some post-exploit cases, via crafted HTTP requests. An attacker would need first to have compromised the product via another vulnerability, at filesystem level.

In the news

Third-party coverage
Trending covered by 3 outlets this week · latest 3w ago

Surfaced from public web coverage — external links open in a new tab.

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

This is a CWE-200 vulnerability in FortiOS allowing a remote unauthenticated attacker to bypass a previous patch for symbolic link persistency mechanisms via crafted HTTP requests. The vulnerability enables exposure of sensitive information but requires the attacker to first achieve filesystem-level compromise through another vulnerability before exploiting this bypass.

MitigationApply Fortinet's updated patches for this specific symbolic link persistency bypass. Since this is a post-compromise bypass, organizations should also conduct forensic analysis to determine if initial filesystem-level compromise occurred via other vulnerabilities.

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
FortiosOperating system
Affected:>= 6.4.0, < 7.4.7>= 7.6.0, < 7.6.2

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
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/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 checks

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

  1. Check FortiOS version
    Run `get system status` or `diagnose sys status` via CLI, or view the version in the web UI under Dashboard > Status
    Affected if Version is >= 6.4.0 and < 7.4.7, or >= 7.6.0 and < 7.6.2
  2. Review system logs for symbolic link manipulation
    Inspect FortiOS logs for entries indicating creation, modification, or traversal of symbolic links, particularly in unusual directories
    Affected if Logs show symbolic link activity that bypasses previously patched restrictions, indicating the bypass may have been attempted
  3. Monitor HTTP traffic for suspicious requests
    Review HTTP access logs or use packet capture on the management interface for requests targeting sensitive paths or containing symbolic link path traversal patterns
    Affected if HTTP requests contain crafted paths that attempt to access files through symbolic links, suggesting exploitation of the persistency bypass

A defender is affected if their FortiOS version falls within the vulnerable ranges and evidence exists of symbolic link manipulation via HTTP requests, indicating prior filesystem compromise has occurred.

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 7.4.7 / 7.6.2 or later
Fixed in 7.4.77.6.2
Interim mitigation

Apply Fortinet's updated patches for this specific symbolic link persistency bypass. Since this is a post-compromise bypass, organizations should also conduct forensic analysis to determine if initial filesystem-level compromise occurred via other vulnerabilities.

Recommended fix High confidence

FortiOS 7.4.7 or later, or FortiOS 7.6.2 or later (depending on current branch)

  1. 1. Identify the current FortiOS version running on the device using 'get system status' or via the web UI under Dashboard > Status
  2. 2. Determine the appropriate upgrade path based on current version (7.0.x, 7.2.x, 7.4.x, or 7.6.x)
  3. 3. Download the fixed FortiOS firmware image (7.4.7 or later for 7.4.x branch, 7.6.2 or later for 7.6.x branch) from Fortinet customer support portal
  4. 4. Back up the current FortiOS configuration
  5. 5. Upload and install the firmware via the web UI (System > Firmware) or CLI using 'execute firmware upgrade'
  6. 6. After reboot, verify the new version is running with 'get system status'
  7. 7. Confirm the vulnerability is resolved by ensuring the symbolic link patch bypass is no longer exploitable
Caveat Review Fortinet release notes for the target version to check for configuration or feature changes that may affect your deployment

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

Fix this in Fortios Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,970
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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-2025-68686 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