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Mallory
Critical

Heap-based buffer overflow in Fortinet FortiOS/FortiSwitchManager cw_acd daemon

IdentifiersCVE-2025-25249CWE-122· Heap-based Buffer Overflow

CVE-2025-25249 is a heap-based buffer overflow in the cw_acd daemon affecting Fortinet FortiOS and FortiSwitchManager. The provided content states that the flaw affects FortiOS 7.6.0 through 7.6.3, 7.4.0 through 7.4.8, 7.2.0 through 7.2.11, 7.0.0 through 7.0.17, and 6.4.x, as well as FortiSwitchManager 7.2.0 through 7.2.6 and 7.0.0 through 7.0.5. The vulnerability can be triggered by a remote unauthenticated attacker using specially crafted packets or requests sent to the exposed service handled by cw_acd. Successful exploitation may corrupt heap memory and lead to execution of unauthorized code or commands.

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation can allow remote unauthenticated arbitrary code execution or command execution in the context of the affected service. The supplied advisory context indicates this could enable device compromise, including installing programs, viewing, modifying, or deleting data, and potentially creating accounts or otherwise taking control depending on the privileges of the service account and platform configuration.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

Where immediate patching is not possible, the provided content states that administrators can reduce exposure by removing "fabric" access from interfaces or blocking access to the CAPWAP daemon with a local-in policy on ports 5246-5249. More generally, restrict network exposure of the vulnerable service to trusted management networks only.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Upgrade affected FortiOS and FortiSwitchManager installations to Fortinet-fixed releases from the appropriate stable channel. The provided content confirms that Fortinet released fixes and recommends immediate application of stable-channel updates after appropriate testing, but it does not provide exact fixed version numbers for this CVE in the supplied material.
PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.

VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType
FortinetFortiosoperating_system
FortinetFortisaseapplication
FortinetFortiswitchmanagerapplication

Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.

What this page doesn’t show

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Exposure mapping

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Threat actor evidence

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity10

Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.