CVE-2019-6693
Fortinet FortiOS: Use of Hard-Coded Credentials
As of , CVE-2019-6693 in Fortinet FortiOS is on CISA's list of exploited vulnerabilities: CISA listed it on . Our patch-first group: Patch this week.
- Exploited
- Yes: CISA listed it on 25 June 2025
- US federal deadline
- 16 July 202521 days after CISA listed it. US federal civilian agencies must fix it by then.
- Used in ransomware campaigns
- KnownCISA changed it from Unknown to Known on 14 July 2025.
- EPSS score
- 0.06Higher than 92% of the CVEs EPSS scores. EPSS estimates the chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days.
- Public exploit
- None foundNeither Metasploit nor Exploit-DB lists one.
- Fix
- Vendor advice: fortiguard.comLinks below, from CISA's entry.
What CISA says to do
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
CISA's required action
What the flaw is
Fortinet FortiOS contains a use of hard-coded credentials vulnerability that could allow an attacker to cipher sensitive data in FortiOS configuration backup file via knowledge of the hard-coded key.
CISA's description
Use of a hard-coded cryptographic key to cipher sensitive data in FortiOS configuration backup file may allow an attacker with access to the backup file to decipher the sensitive data, via knowledge of the hard-coded key. The aforementioned sensitive data includes users' passwords (except the administrator's password), private keys' passphrases and High Availability password (when set).
The CVE record's description, from fortinet
- CVE published
- 21 November 2019
- Assigned by
- fortinet
- CVSS
- 6.5 Medium (CVSS 3.1, from CISA-ADP)
- CWE-798
- Use of Hard-coded Credentials
- CISA SSVC, exploitation
- active
- CISA SSVC, automatable
- no
- CISA SSVC, technical impact
- partial
Timeline
- The CVE record was published.
- CISA added it to its list of exploited vulnerabilities.
- CISA changed its entry. Ransomware use: Unknown to Known.
- The US federal deadline to fix it.
FortiOS: other exploited entries
| Vulnerability | Product | Our group | Listed | Deadline | EPSS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2018-13379SSL VPN Path Traversal | Fortinet FortiOS | Patch this weekRansomware use; Metasploit module; EPSS 0.99 | 0.99 | ||
| CVE-2024-21762Out-of-Bound Write | Fortinet FortiOS | Patch this weekRansomware use; EPSS 0.83 | 0.83 | ||
| CVE-2022-42475Heap-Based Buffer Overflow | Fortinet FortiOS | Patch this weekRansomware use; EPSS 0.99 | 0.99 | ||
| CVE-2020-12812SSL VPN Improper Authentication | Fortinet FortiOS | Patch this weekRansomware use | 0.45 | ||
| CVE-2019-5591Default Configuration | Fortinet FortiOS | Patch this weekRansomware use | 0.18 | ||
| CVE-2025-68686Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor | Fortinet FortiOS | Patch soon | 0.30 | ||
| CVE-2022-41328Path Traversal | Fortinet FortiOS | Patch soon | 0.11 | ||
| CVE-2021-44168Arbitrary File Download | Fortinet FortiOS | Patch soon | 0.01 |
Read further
- CVE recordcve.org
- NVD entrynvd.nist.gov
- CISA's catalogcisa.gov
- EPSS for this CVEapi.first.org