# CVE-2019-17658: Privilege escalation in Fortinet FortiClientWindows

> An attacker can gain elevated privileges on Windows systems by exploiting an unquoted service path in the FortiClient FortiTray component.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 12 Mar 2020
- **Updated:** 25 Oct 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-m95v-g4pm-pcq9

## What is CVE-2019-17658?

CVE-2019-17658 is a critical vulnerability in Fortinet Forticlient, published on 12 Mar 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An unquoted service path vulnerability in the FortiClient FortiTray component of FortiClientWindows v6.2.2 and prior allow an attacker to gain elevated privileges via the FortiClientConsole executable service path.

Weakness: CWE-428 (Unquoted Search Path or Element)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-17658?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Fortinet Forticlient.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-17658?

No fix has been published for CVE-2019-17658 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2019-17658 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-17658 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code:

- Unquoted Service Path exploit in FortiClient (CVE-2019-17658) (github_poc): https://github.com/Ibonok/CVE-2019-17658

## Other vulnerabilities in Fortinet Forticlient

- [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)
- [CVE-2019-5589](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-5589/): Path traversal in FortiClientWindows (high 8.6)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2019-17658 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-17658 is a critical vulnerability in Fortinet Forticlient, published on 12 Mar 2020. 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-2019-17658 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-2019-17658/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-17658/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-17658
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-17658
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-17658

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-17658/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.