Fortinet FortiOS Use of Hard-Coded Credentials Vulnerability
CVE-2019-6693 is a security vulnerability in Fortinet FortiOS, added to CISA KEV on June 25, 2025. Patch priority: Patch now. Known ransomware use: yes.
What it is
Fortinet FortiOS contains a use of hard-coded credentials vulnerability that could allow an attacker to cipher sensitive data in FortiOS configuration backup file via knowledge of the hard-coded key.
Known to be used in ransomware campaigns. Active threat actors have chained this vulnerability into ransomware operations — treat patching as a same-week priority, not a "next maintenance window" task. The fix is the same one below; the urgency is higher.
VulnCheck tracked exploitation 672 days before CISA's KEV listing. VulnCheck's broader catalog of in-the-wild exploitation evidence picked this up before it landed on CISA's formal list. Per-CVE fact about this entry; not a population claim about lead time in general.
Who's affected
Affects anyone whose internet connection goes through a Fortinet appliance — typically a FortiGate firewall or FortiClient VPN. The firewall sits between every device in the office and the internet; exploitation can mean an attacker gets inside the network perimeter without touching a workstation.
What to do
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
If you don't have someone in-house to verify the patch deployed across every endpoint — or you're not sure whether you're affected — that's exactly the kind of triage we do. Book a free 20-minute triage call.
Insurance readiness
Your insurer will ask if this is patched.
Unpatched entries on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list are exactly what cyber-insurance carrier questionnaires probe for, and knowing which controls they check is how you keep a renewal from stalling.
Get the free carrier questionnaire →Severity
CVSS base score: 6.5 — MEDIUM
Weakness classification: CWE-798
CISA due date
Federal deadline: July 16, 2025. Federal agencies must complete the required action by this date. For private SMBs the deadline is advisory — but treat it as a strong recommendation, especially if you handle regulated data (HIPAA, GLBA, ABA model rules).
EPSS
EPSS score: 5.7% — higher than 92% of all scored CVEs.
EPSS estimates the probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days. Every entry on this site is already confirmed exploited, so read it as relative urgency among the things you still have open, not as permission to wait.
Other exploited Fortinet FortiOS entries
More CISA KEV entries for Fortinet FortiOS. Same product line, same actively-exploited status.
Source
This entry comes from CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, public US-Government data we pull daily. The plain-language framing and the what-to-do guidance above are ours. View the original entry on cisa.gov.