# CVE-2019-16155: Privilege escalation in Fortinet FortiClientLinux

> Low-privilege users can overwrite system files as root via crafted IPC requests or GUI actions, leading to privilege escalation.

- **Severity:** High 7.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 7 Feb 2020
- **Updated:** 25 Oct 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-wrhm-j3m8-m326

## What is CVE-2019-16155?

CVE-2019-16155 is a high-severity vulnerability in Fortinet Forticlient, published on 7 Feb 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A privilege escalation vulnerability in FortiClient for Linux 6.2.1 and below may allow a user with low privilege to overwrite system files as root with arbitrary content through system backup file via specially crafted "BackupConfig" type IPC client requests to the fctsched process. Further more, FortiClient for Linux 6.2.2 and below allow low privilege user write the system backup file under root privilege through GUI thus can cause root system file overwrite.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-16155?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Fortinet Forticlient.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-16155?

No fix has been published for CVE-2019-16155 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2019-16155 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-16155 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Fortinet Forticlient

- [CVE-2019-17658](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-17658/): Privilege escalation in Fortinet FortiClientWindows (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2023-45590](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-45590/): Code injection in FortiClientLinux (critical 9.4)
- [CVE-2017-14184](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-14184/): Information disclosure in FortiClient SSLVPN Client for Linux (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2016-8493](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-8493/): Privilege escalation in Fortinet FortiClient (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2020-15934](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-15934/): Privilege escalation in FortiClientLinux (high 8.6)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2019-16155 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-16155 is a high-severity vulnerability in Fortinet Forticlient, published on 7 Feb 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-16155 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Fortinet Forticlient. 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-2019-16155/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16155/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-16155
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-16155
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-16155

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16155/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.