CVE-2016-8491 Hardcoded credentials in Fortinet FortiWLC

What is CVE-2016-8491?

CVE-2016-8491 is a critical vulnerability in Fortinet FortiWLC, published on 1 Feb 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

The presence of a hardcoded account named 'core' in Fortinet FortiWLC allows attackers to gain unauthorized read/write access via a remote shell.

Weakness: CWE-798

Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-8491?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Fortinet Fortiwlc.

How do I fix CVE-2016-8491?

No fix has been published for CVE-2016-8491 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Is CVE-2016-8491 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-8491 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Fortinet FortiWLC

• CVE-2017-17539 Hardcoded credentials in FortiWLC Critical 9.8
• CVE-2017-17540 Hardcoded credentials in FortiWLC Critical 9.8
• CVE-2016-7560 Hardcoded credentials in n/a Critical 9.8
• CVE-2021-42758 Privilege escalation in Fortinet FortiWLC High 8.8
• CVE-2017-7341 Command injection in n/a High 7.2

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as GHSA-pxp7-p7xv-7463.