Fortinet products targeted
Threat actors are targeting Fortinet FortiGate devices via automated attacks that make rogue accounts and steal firewall settings info.
The campaign began earlier this year when threat actors exploited an unknown bug in the devices’ single-sign-on (SSO) option to make accounts with VPN access and steal firewall configurations. This means automation was involved.
About the attack
Cybersecurity company Arctic Wolf discovered this attack and said they are quite similar to the attacks it found in December after the reveal of a critical login bypass flaw (CVE-2025-59718) in Fortinet products.
The advisory comes after a series of reports from Fortinet users about threat actors abusing a patch bypass for the bug CVE-2025-59718 to take over patched walls.
Impacted admins complaint that Fortinet said that the latest FortiOS variant 7.4.10 doesn't totally fix the authentication bypass bug, which should have been fixed in December 2025.
Patches and fixing
Fortinet also plans on releasing more FortiOS variants soon to fully patch the CVE-2025-59718 security bug.
Following an SSO login from cloud-init@mail.io on IP address 104.28.244.114, the attackers created admin users, according to logs shared by impacted Fortinet customers. This matches indications of compromise found by Arctic Wolf during its analysis of ongoing FortiGate attacks and prior exploitation the cybersecurity firm noticed in December.
Turn off FortiCloud SSO to prevent intrusions.
Turning off SSO
Admins can temporarily disable the vulnerable FortiCloud login capability (if enabled) by navigating to System -> Settings and changing "Allow administrative login using FortiCloud SSO" to Off. This will help administrators safeguard their firewalls until Fortinet properly updates FortiOS against these persistent assaults.
You can also run these commands from the interface:
"config system global
set admin-forticloud-sso-login disable
end"
What to do next?
Internet security watchdog Shadowserver is investigating around 11,000 Fortinet devices that are vulnerable to online threats and have FortiCloud SSO turned on.
Additionally, CISA ordered federal agencies to patch CVE-2025-59718 within a week after adding it to its list of vulnerabilities that were exploited in attacks on December 16.
