# CVE-2025-53609: Path traversal in FortiWeb

> An authenticated attacker can read arbitrary files on the underlying system via crafted requests in FortiWeb.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N/E:P/RL:X/RC:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 9 Sep 2025
- **Updated:** 14 Jan 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-9rc9-f47x-pvpx

## What is CVE-2025-53609?

CVE-2025-53609 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Fortinet Fortiweb, published on 9 Sep 2025. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A Relative Path Traversal vulnerability [CWE-23] in FortiWeb 7.6.0 through 7.6.4, 7.4.0 through 7.4.8, 7.2.0 through 7.2.11, 7.0.2 through 7.0.11 may allow an authenticated attacker to perform an arbitrary file read on the underlying system via crafted requests.

Weakness: CWE-23 (Relative Path Traversal)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-53609?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Fortinet Fortiweb.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-53609?

No fix has been published for CVE-2025-53609 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2025-53609 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-53609 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Fortinet Fortiweb

- [CVE-2025-25257](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-25257/): Fortinet FortiWeb SQL Injection (critical 9.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-64446](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-64446/): Fortinet FortiWeb Path Traversal (critical 9.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-58034](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-58034/): Fortinet FortiWeb OS Command Injection (medium 6.7, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-29015](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-29015/): SQL injection in Fortinet FortiWeb (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-29016](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-29016/): Memory corruption in Fortinet FortiWeb (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-53609 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-53609 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Fortinet Fortiweb, published on 9 Sep 2025. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-53609 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Fortinet Fortiweb. 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-2025-53609/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-53609/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-53609
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-53609
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-53609

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-53609/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.