Fortinet FortiOS's Information Exposure Flaw Allows a Remote Unauthenticated Attacker to Bypass the Previously Issued Patch for Symbolic Link Persistency; CISA's August 10th KEV Deadline Has Passed

Last refreshed2026-09-27

Status: KEV | Advisory ID: CVE-2025-68686

Key Details

CVE	CVE-2025-68686
Vulnerability Name	Fortinet FortiOS Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor Vulnerability
Affected products	Fortinet FortiOS
Exploitation status	Listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, indicating confirmed active exploitation.
Classified as	CWE-200 (Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor)
KEV listing	Added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 2026-07-27.
Exploitation prediction (EPSS)	29.60% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days (98% percentile) -- FIRST.org's EPSS model.
Federal remediation deadline	2026-08-10 (CISA KEV, Binding Operational Directive).

Affected Products, Subsystems & Sectors

Vendor	Product	Affected Versions	Patch Status
Fortinet	FortiOS

Vendor

Product

Affected Versions

Patch Status

Fortinet

FortiOS

Subsystems	Core Infrastructure
Sectors	Multi-sector

What to Know

Fortinet FortiOS contains an exposure of sensitive information to an unauthorized actor vulnerability. This 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.

What to Do

Monitor Fortinet's web page for any future patch releases.

References

Source	Reference
NVD	https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-68686
CVE	https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-68686

Source

Reference

NVD

https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-68686

CVE

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-68686

KEV Required Action

Field	Value
KEV Link	https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog
Date Added to KEV	2026-07-27
Required Action Due Date	2026-08-10
Required Action	Apply mitigations in accordance with vendor instructions, ensuring compliance with CISA’s BOD 26-04 Prioritizing Security Updates Based on Risk (see URL in Notes) guidance and CISA’s “Forensics Triage Requirements” (see URL in Notes). Follow applicable BOD 26-04 guidance for cloud services or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. Stakeholders are responsible for evaluating each asset's internet exposure and ensuring adherence to BOD 26-04 patching guidelines.

Field

Value

KEV Link

https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog

Date Added to KEV

2026-07-27

Required Action Due Date

2026-08-10

Required Action

Apply mitigations in accordance with vendor instructions, ensuring compliance with CISA’s BOD 26-04 Prioritizing Security Updates Based on Risk (see URL in Notes) guidance and CISA’s “Forensics Triage Requirements” (see URL in Notes). Follow applicable BOD 26-04 guidance for cloud services or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. Stakeholders are responsible for evaluating each asset's internet exposure and ensuring adherence to BOD 26-04 patching guidelines.