Critical Fortinet Vulnerability in FortiCloud SSO Authentication Bypass

Summary : A critical authentication bypass vulnerability has been identified in multiple Fortinet products leveraging FortiCloud Single Sign-On (SSO).  Fortinet has disclosed a Critical authentication bypass vulnerability impacting FortiOS, FortiManager, FortiAnalyzer and FortiProxy

CISA has added CVE-2026-24858 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 27 Jan 2026 with a remediation due date of 30 Jan 2026.

OEM Fortinet  
Severity Critical 
CVSS Score 9.4 
CVEs CVE-2026-24858 
POC Available No 
Actively Exploited Yes 
Exploited in Wild Yes 
Advisory Version 1.0 

Overview 

This flaw allows an attacker with a valid FortiCloud account and a registered device to authenticate into other accounts where FortiCloud SSO is enabled. Fortinet has confirmed active exploitation in the wild. Administrators are urged to upgrade to the latest version of the affected products. 

      Vulnerability Name CVE ID Product Affected Severity Fixed Version 
Authentication Bypass via Crafted Requests CVE-2026-24858 FortiOS, FortiManager, FortiAnalyzer, FortiProxy, FortiWeb    Critical Check the recommendation section table below 

Technical Summary 

The vulnerability is caused by insufficient validation of FortiCloud account-device binding in the SAML SSO authentication handler (GUI component), enabling CWE-288 alternate path bypass.

Specifically, the system fails to enforce principal-device registration isolation during SSO token processing, allowing any authenticated FortiCloud user with a registered device to impersonate admins on unrelated targets if the toggle “Allow administrative login using FortiCloud SSO” is enabled post-FortiCare GUI registration.  

CVE ID System Affected Vulnerability Details Impact 
CVE-2026-24858 Check the recommendation section table below  Authentication Bypass Using Alternate Path (CWE-288) in FortiCloud SSO SAML handler Device takeover, Network compromise, Persistent access 

Remediation:  

Upgrade immediately to the fortunate products in the latest version 

Product Affected Versions Fixed Version 
FortiAnalyzer 7.6 7.6.0 through 7.6.5 7.6.6 or above 
FortiAnalyzer 7.4 7.4.0 through 7.4.9 7.4.10 or above 
FortiAnalyzer 7.2 7.2.0 through 7.2.11 7.2.12 or above 
FortiAnalyzer 7.0 7.0.0 through 7.0.15 7.0.16 or above 
FortiManager 7.6 7.6.0 through 7.6.5 7.6.6 or above 
FortiManager 7.4 7.4.0 through 7.4.9 7.4.10 or above 
FortiManager 7.2 7.2.0 through 7.2.11 7.2.12 or above 
FortiManager 7.0 7.0.0 through 7.0.15 7.0.16 or above 
FortiOS 7.6 7.6.0 through 7.6.5 7.6.6 or above 
FortiOS 7.4 7.4.0 through 7.4.10 7.4.11 or above 
FortiOS 7.2 7.2.0 through 7.2.12 7.2.13 or above 
FortiOS 7.0 7.0.0 through 7.0.18 7.0.19 or above 
FortiProxy 7.6 7.6.0 through 7.6.4 7.6.6 or above 
FortiProxy 7.4 7.4.0 through 7.4.12 7.4.13 or above 
FortiProxy 7.2 7.2.0 through 7.2.15 7.2.16 or above 
FortiProxy 7.0 7.0.0 through 7.0.22 7.0.23 or above 
FortiWeb 8.0 8.0.0 through 8.0.3 8.0.4 or above 
FortiWeb 7.6 7.6.0 through 7.6.6 7.6.7 or above 
FortiWeb 7.4 7.4.0 through 7.4.11 7.4.12 or above 

IOCs: 

Here is the table below 

Type IOC Details 
SSO Login Accounts cloud-noc@mail.iocloud-init@mail.ioheltaylor.12@tutamail.comsupport@openmail.pro  
IP Addresses 104.28.244.115, 104.28.212.114, 104.28.212.115, 104.28.195.105, 104.28.195.106, 104.28.227.106, 104.28.227.105, 104.28.244.114, 163.61.198.15, 104.28.244.116, 38.54.6.28, 37.1.209.19, 217.119.139.50 (Cloudflare and 3rd party) 
Malicious Local Accounts audit, backup, itadmin, secadmin, support, backupadmin, deploy, remoteadmin, security, svcadmin, system, adccount 
Attacker TTPs Config file download, Local admin creation for persistence 

Source: www.fortiguard.com 

Conclusion: 
This vulnerability in FortiCloud SSO convenience into a critical admin takeover vector, actively exploited across Fortinet’s core infrastructure. 

Server-side blocks provide interim protection, but immediate upgrades are mandatory to restore functionality and eliminate persistence risks. Prioritize audit of IOCs, disable unnecessary SSO exposure, and enforce MFA to secure enterprise networks against this widespread threat. 

References:  

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