CVE-2019-6693 Fortinet FortiOS Use of Hard-Coded Credentials

What is CVE-2019-6693?

CVE-2019-6693 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Fortinet Fortios, published on 21 Nov 2019. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

Use of a hard-coded cryptographic key to cipher sensitive data in FortiOS configuration backup file may allow an attacker with access to the backup file to decipher the sensitive data, via knowledge of the hard-coded key. The aforementioned sensitive data includes users' passwords (except the administrator's password), private keys' passphrases and High Availability password (when set).

Weakness: CWE-798

Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-6693?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Fortinet Fortios.

How do I fix CVE-2019-6693?

No fix has been published for CVE-2019-6693 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available. US federal agencies must fix it by 16 Jul 2025.

Is CVE-2019-6693 being exploited?

Yes. Attackers have exploited CVE-2019-6693 in the wild since at least 25 Jun 2025, including in ransomware campaigns.

Public exploit code: 4 proofs of concept on GitHub.

Other vulnerabilities in Fortinet Fortios

• CVE-2024-23113 Fortinet Multiple Products Format String Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2022-40684 Fortinet Multiple Products Authentication Bypass Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2024-55591 Fortinet FortiOS and FortiProxy Authentication Bypass Exploited Critical 9.6
• CVE-2024-21762 Fortinet FortiOS Out-of-Bound Write Exploited Critical 9.6
• CVE-2022-42475 Fortinet FortiOS Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited Critical 9.3

All Fortinet Fortios vulnerabilities

Sources

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

Also known as GHSA-hx92-84x6-67mx.