CVE-2025-25257: Unauthenticated SQL Injection in Fortinet FortiWeb Management Interface

HERMES

HERMES THREAT SCORE & WAF DATABASE/MANAGEMENT EXPOSURE

Target: Fortinet FortiWeb 7.0.0 through 7.6.3 (Management Interface)

Confidence: 99%

97 / 100

CRITICAL

Measures real-world operational relevance, exploit weaponization, and active threat posture.

Dimension Breakdown

Exploitability 20 / 20

Threat Activity 20 / 20

Weaponization 20 / 20

Exposure 19 / 20

Prevalence 19 / 20

Impact 20 / 20

Exploit Maturity 20 / 20

Attack Chain Potential 20 / 20

⚖️ Divergence & Operational Rationale

Hermes assesses CVE-2025-25257 at a critical HTS of 97 (CRITICAL SEVERITY). This unauthenticated SQL injection flaw in the FortiWeb management interface allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands against the backend database, dump administrator password hashes, and achieve system command execution.

🕸️ Connected Knowledge Graph & Provenance

CVE-2025-25257: Unauthenticated SQL Injection in Fortinet FortiWeb Management InterfaceVULNERABILITY

Connected Nodes: 2

Active Relationships (Outgoing)

→ affectsPRODUCTFortinet FortiOS Gateway

98% VERY_HIGH

Software platform affected by security vulnerabilities and agentic attack patterns.

🔍 Why is this related? (Evidence & Provenance)

“Confirmed security vulnerability in Fortinet FortiOS Gateway documented in Hermes dossier.”

Supporting Verified Evidence:

[vulnerability_report]
[government_confirmation]CISA verified active exploitation in the wild and mandated federal remediation deadline in KEV entry. — Source: Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA): CISA Adds CVE-2026-59822 to Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog (Reliability: VERY_HIGH)

→ usesATTACK TECHNIQUET1059: Command and Scripting Interpreter

90% VERY_HIGH

Adversaries abuse command and script interpreters (Bash, Python, PowerShell) to execute arbitrary commands.

🔍 Why is this related? (Evidence & Provenance)

“Attack execution telemetry aligns with MITRE ATT&CK technique T1059.”

Supporting Verified Evidence:

[government_confirmation]CISA verified active exploitation in the wild and mandated federal remediation deadline in KEV entry. — Source: Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA): CISA Adds CVE-2026-59822 to Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog (Reliability: VERY_HIGH)

1. Identification

Parameter	Technical Specification	Operational Impact
CVE Identifier	`CVE-2025-25257`	Official NVD / MITRE record
Vendor Advisory	FG-IR-25-151	Official Fortinet PSIRT Advisory
Associated CWE	`CWE-89`: SQL Injection	Direct SQL injection into FortiWeb internal management database
CVSS v3.1 Score	9.6 CRITICAL	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`
CVSS v4.0 Score	9.4 CRITICAL	`CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N`
Applicable CPEs	`cpe:2.3:a:fortinet:fortiweb::::::::`	Fortinet FortiWeb Web Application Firewall appliances
Affected Versions	7.0.0-7.0.10, 7.2.0-7.2.10, 7.4.0-7.4.7, 7.6.0-7.6.3	Any FortiWeb deployment exposing management ports
Fixed Versions	7.0.11, 7.2.11, 7.4.8, 7.6.4 (July 2025)	Official firmware updates implementing parameterized queries

2. Exploitation

CISA KEV: Added on July 18, 2025; remediation required by August 8, 2025.
EPSS Score: 0.99772 (Percentile: 99.955% — active global threat).
Operational Status: Confirmed mass exploitation in the wild scanning TCP ports 8443 and 443.
PoC & Weaponization: Public exploit scripts published on Exploit-DB (ID 52473) and GitHub automating SQL payload injection to exfiltrate database contents.
Access Conditions: Pre-authentication; public HTTPS access; low attack complexity.

3. Threat Intelligence

Threat Actors: Initial Access Brokers (IABs), state-sponsored espionage groups, and ransomware syndicates.
Observed Campaigns: Automated scanning harvesting administrative password hashes from internet-connected FortiWeb devices.
Associated Malware: Custom SQL injection scripts, automated credential dumpers, and webshell loaders.
Exploitation Timeline: Published by Fortinet on July 15, 2025; included in CISA KEV on July 18, 2025.

4. Detection & Forensic Triage

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

HTTP Requests with SQL Operators: Requests containing UNION SELECT, char(), or sqlite_master targeting /api/v1/.
Database Error Spikes: Frequent SQL execution errors logged in internal FortiWeb system messages.

Sigma Rule

title: SQL Injection on FortiWeb Management Interface (CVE-2025-25257)
id: f7e6d5c4-2525-4b12-9876-123456789abc
status: test
description: Detects SQL injection attempts targeting Fortinet FortiWeb administrative API endpoints
references:
  - https://fortiguard.fortinet.com/psirt/FG-IR-25-151
  - https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/52473
author: Hermes Codex Research
date: 2026-09-10
logsource:
  product: fortiweb
  service: webserver
detection:
  selection:
    cs_uri_stem|contains: '/api/v1/'
    cs_uri_query|contains:
      - 'UNION'
      - 'SELECT'
      - 'sqlite_master'
      - "' OR '1'='1"
  condition: selection
falsepositives:
  - None expected on management API requests
level: critical

YARA Signature

rule Exploit_FortiWeb_SQLi_CVE_2025_25257 {
    meta:
        description = "Detects SQL injection exploit strings targeting FortiWeb management"
        author = "Hermes Codex Research"
        date = "2026-09-10"
        reference = "CVE-2025-25257"
    strings:
        $api = "/api/v1/" ascii
        $sqli1 = "UNION SELECT" ascii nocase
        $sqli2 = "sqlite_master" ascii nocase
        $sqli3 = "pg_shadow" ascii nocase
    condition:
        $api and ($sqli1 or $sqli2 or $sqli3)
}

Suricata / Snort Signature

alert tcp $EXTERNAL_NET any -> $FORTIWEB_MGMT [8443,443] (msg:"HERMES - Fortinet FortiWeb Management SQL Injection Attempt (CVE-2025-25257)"; flow:to_server,established; content:"/api/v1/"; pcre:"/(?:union\s+select|sqlite_master|pg_shadow)/i"; classtype:web-application-attack; sid:202525257; rev:1;)

Logs & Forensic Artifacts

FortiWeb System Logs: Inspect web server logs for syntax errors or UNION queries on /api/v1/.
Administrator Database Integrity: Audit administrative user records for unauthorized modifications or newly created accounts.
MITRE ATT&CK: T1190 (Exploit Public-Facing Application), T1059 (Command and Scripting Interpreter), T1078 (Valid Accounts), T1562.001 (Disable Security Tools).

5. Remediation & Hardening

Apply Firmware Patch: Install FortiWeb 7.6.4, 7.4.8, 7.2.11, or 7.0.11.
Enforce Complete Management Isolation: Block all access to the management port (TCP 8443 / 443) from external WAN interfaces.
Rotate Administrator Passwords: Reset all local and domain administrative credentials immediately.
Rotate TLS Certificates: Re-issue SSL/TLS certificates and private keys managed by the appliance.
Perform Filesystem Integrity Inspection: Verify that no unauthorized script files were written to disk via database injection routines.

6. Enterprise Impact Scenario

”What happens if this vulnerability is exploited in an enterprise?”
Section titled “”What happens if this vulnerability is exploited in an enterprise?””

Reconnaissance on Management Port: The attacker discovers an exposed FortiWeb WAF management interface on the public internet.

Unauthenticated SQL Injection: Submitting an HTTP request with a UNION SELECT payload, the adversary bypasses query sanitization in the management API.

Administrator Credential Exfiltration: The attacker extracts administrative usernames and password hashes from the underlying database.

Command Execution & Appliance Takeover: Cracking the hash or using database file-write capabilities, the adversary achieves interactive root command execution on the appliance.

WAF Disablement and Network Breach: The attacker disables application firewall rules, exposes previously protected core backend portals, and pivots laterally into the enterprise corporate network.