# CVE-2017-17544: Privilege escalation in FortiOS

> Admin users can escalate privileges to super_admin by restoring modified configurations in FortiOS, requiring an upgrade to mitigate.

- **Severity:** High 7.2 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 9 Apr 2019
- **Updated:** 25 Oct 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-h72v-g53g-mw9x

## What is CVE-2017-17544?

CVE-2017-17544 is a high-severity vulnerability in Fortinet Fortios, published on 9 Apr 2019. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A privilege escalation vulnerability in Fortinet FortiOS 6.0.0 to 6.0.6, 5.6.0 to 5.6.10, 5.4 and below allows admin users to elevate their profile to super_admin via restoring modified configurations.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-17544?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Fortinet Fortios.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-17544?

No fix has been published for CVE-2017-17544 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2017-17544 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-17544 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-2017-17544 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-17544 is a high-severity vulnerability in Fortinet Fortios, published on 9 Apr 2019. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-17544 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-2017-17544/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-17544/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-17544
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-17544
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-17544

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-17544/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.