Security readout for executives and security teams
This flaw lets a FortiOS read-only administrator see password hashes for read-write administrators, excluding super-admins. If those hashes are cracked, the attacker may gain stronger administrative access. The issue affects old FortiOS 5.2 and 5.4 releases, so business urgency depends on whether any appliances still run those versions. Exposure is limited to Fortinet FortiOS appliances running 5.2.0-5.2.9 or 5.4.1 with read-only administrator accounts enabled or usable. Treat as a targeted credential-protection issue, not a broad unauthenticated internet exploit based on the supplied evidence. Prioritize any remaining legacy FortiOS appliances because cracked administrator hashes could enable stronger control of security infrastructure. Mitigation focus: Upgrade FortiOS 5.2.x systems to 5.2.10 GA or later.; Upgrade FortiOS 5.4.x systems to 5.4.2 GA or later.; Review Fortinet advisory FG-IR-16-050 for vendor-specific remediation guidance..
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
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Credential and access behavior lookup
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Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2016-7542 mapping review
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Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Unknown
- CVSS
- Not scored
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
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CVSS and timeline data
No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
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