# CVE-2019-17652: Memory corruption in Fortinet FortiClientLinux

> A stack buffer overflow in FortiClient for Linux allows low-privilege users to crash root-privileged processes via crafted IPC requests.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 6 Feb 2020
- **Updated:** 25 Oct 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-j454-8m43-mvvq

## What is CVE-2019-17652?

CVE-2019-17652 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Fortinet Forticlient, published on 6 Feb 2020. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A stack buffer overflow vulnerability in FortiClient for Linux 6.2.1 and below may allow a user with low privilege to cause FortiClient processes running under root priviledge crashes via sending specially crafted "StartAvCustomScan" type IPC client requests to the fctsched process due the argv data not been well sanitized.

Weakness: CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-17652?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Fortinet Forticlient.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-17652?

No fix has been published for CVE-2019-17652 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2019-17652 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-17652 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-2019-17652 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-17652 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Fortinet Forticlient, published on 6 Feb 2020. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-17652 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-2019-17652/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-17652/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-17652
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-17652
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-17652

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-17652/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.