# CVE-2016-7541: Security feature bypass in FortiOS

> Attackers can bypass security policies during IPS updates on FortiGate devices if IPS is configured in flow mode instead of the default proxy mode.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.9 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 30 Mar 2017
- **Updated:** 25 Oct 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-5qrm-hvcf-q4hg

## What is CVE-2016-7541?

CVE-2016-7541 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Fortinet Fortios, published on 30 Mar 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Long lived sessions in Fortinet FortiGate devices with FortiOS 5.x before 5.4.0 could violate a security policy during IPS signature updates when the FortiGate's IPSengine is configured in flow mode. All FortiGate versions with IPS configured in proxy mode (the default mode) are not affected.

Weakness: CWE-254

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-7541?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Fortinet Fortios.

## How do I fix CVE-2016-7541?

No fix has been published for CVE-2016-7541 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2016-7541 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-7541 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Fortinet Fortios

- [CVE-2024-23113](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-23113/): Fortinet Multiple Products Format String (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-40684](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-40684/): Fortinet Multiple Products Authentication Bypass (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-55591](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-55591/): Fortinet FortiOS and FortiProxy Authentication Bypass (critical 9.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-21762](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-21762/): Fortinet FortiOS Out-of-Bound Write (critical 9.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-42475](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-42475/): Fortinet FortiOS Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (critical 9.3, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2016-7541 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2016-7541 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Fortinet Fortios, published on 30 Mar 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-7541 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Fortinet Fortios. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-7541/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-7541/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-7541
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-7541
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-7541

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-7541/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.