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Medium · 6.5 Known exploited · Ransomware Public exploit CVE-2019-6693 EUVD-2019-16251GHSA-hx92-84x6-67mx

Use of a hard-coded cryptographic key to cipher sensitive data in FortiOS configuration backup file may allow an attacker with access to th…

Published Nov 21, 2019 · Updated Aug 4, 2026 · Assigned by fortinet

Vendor: Fortinet Product: FortiGate Category: Network devices

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).

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Fortinet FortiGate 5.6.9 and below, 6.0.5 and below, 6.2.0 —

Public exploits

Exploit or proof-of-concept code for this vulnerability is publicly available, which lowers the bar for attackers. Treat it as a reason to patch sooner.

Third-party code, not reviewed by us. Public PoCs are sometimes fake or contain malware. Read the code first and run it only in an isolated lab, against systems you are authorised to test.

GitHub 5 repositories

  • saladandonionrings/cve-2019-6693 ★ 30 · Dec 8, 2023

    An authorized remote user with access or knowledge of the standard encryption key can gain access and decrypt the FortiOS backup files and all non-administator passwords, private keys and High Availa…

  • synacktiv/CVE-2020-9289 ★ 11 · Jun 30, 2023

    Decrypt reversible secrets encrypted using the default hardcoded key related to CVE-2020-9289 on FortiAnalyzer/FortiManager (the only difference with CVE-2019-6693 is the encryption routine).

  • gquere/CVE-2019-6693 ★ 9 · Dec 21, 2021

    Decrypt FortiGate configuration secrets

  • Real4XoR/CVE-2019-6693 ★ 1 · Aug 26, 2025
  • lureprey/fortidecrypter-CVE-2019-6693 ★ 0 · Nov 7, 2026

Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.

References