Fortinet Breach Incident Score: Analysis & Impact (FOR5592655111725)

In this Rankiteo incident briefing, we review the Fortinet breach identified under incident ID FOR5592655111725.

The analysis begins with a detailed overview of Fortinet's information like the linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fortinet, the number of followers: 1167752, the industry type: Computer and Network Security and the number of employees: 15505 employees

After the initial compromise, the video explains how Rankiteo's incident engine converts technical details into a normalized incident score. The incident score before the incident was 638 and after the incident was 635 with a difference of -3 which is could be a good indicator of the severity and impact of the incident.

In the next step of the video, we will analyze in more details the incident and the impact it had on Fortinet and their customers.

Fortinet recently reported "Fortinet Silently Patches Zero-Day Vulnerability in FortiWeb WAF", a noteworthy cybersecurity incident.

Security researchers confirmed that Fortinet silently patched a zero-day vulnerability in its FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF), which was exploited in the wild before the fix was disclosed.

The disruption is felt across the environment, affecting FortiWeb WAF devices (versions prior to 7.0.7 and 7.2.2).

In response, moved swiftly to contain the threat with measures like Immediate patching to versions 7.0.7 or 7.2.2 recommended, and began remediation that includes Traffic analysis for signs of post-compromise activity and Strengthened monitoring of WAF logs for anomalous requests, and stakeholders are being briefed through Generic patch notes referencing 'security hardening' and No direct acknowledgment of in-the-wild exploitation initially.

The case underscores how Ongoing (limited details released by Fortinet; WatchTowr provided reverse-engineered analysis), teams are taking away lessons such as Vendors must balance technical secrecy with the imperative to protect users from real-world threats through transparent communication, Enterprises should scrutinize all firmware updates for critical infrastructure, especially perimeter-facing devices like WAFs and Defense-in-depth and strong vulnerability management processes are essential for mitigating risks from zero-day exploits, and recommending next steps like Immediately apply updates to FortiWeb versions 7.0.7 and 7.2.2, Conduct traffic analysis for signs of post-compromise activity and Strengthen monitoring of WAF logs, particularly for anomalous requests, with advisories going out to stakeholders covering Enterprises urged to monitor vendor release notes carefully and prioritize patching for WAF devices.

Finally, we try to match the incident with the MITRE ATT&CK framework to see if there is any correlation between the incident and the MITRE ATT&CK framework.

The MITRE ATT&CK framework is a knowledge base of techniques and sub-techniques that are used to describe the tactics and procedures of cyber adversaries. It is a powerful tool for understanding the threat landscape and for developing effective defense strategies.

Rankiteo's analysis has identified several MITRE ATT&CK tactics and techniques associated with this incident, each with varying levels of confidence based on available evidence. Under the Initial Access tactic, the analysis identified Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190) with high confidence (95%), with evidence including zero-day vulnerability in FortiWeb Web Application Firewall (WAF), exploited in the wild before disclosure, and remote code execution (RCE) or WAF bypass risks. Under the Defense Evasion tactic, the analysis identified Impair Defenses: Disable or Modify Firewall (T1562.001) with high confidence (90%), with evidence including wAF protection bypass via zero-day exploitation, and probing unpatched FortiWeb instances for bypass/evade detection. Under the Execution tactic, the analysis identified Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059) with moderate to high confidence (85%), with evidence including remote code execution (RCE) via zero-day in FortiWeb WAF, and malicious actors probing unpatched instances for execution opportunities. Under the Persistence tactic, the analysis identified Server Software Component: Web Shell (T1505.003) with moderate to high confidence (75%), with evidence including post-compromise attacks following RCE exploitation, and potential unauthorized access to web applications (implied persistence mechanism). Under the Lateral Movement tactic, the analysis identified Remote Services: SSH (T1021.004) with moderate to high confidence (70%), with evidence including lateral movement within networks as a post-compromise risk, and exposure of mission-critical assets via WAF as pivot point. Under the Impact tactic, the analysis identified Data Destruction (T1485) with moderate confidence (60%), with evidence including data breaches as a potential impact of exploitation, and exposure of mission-critical assets (implied data manipulation/destruction risk) and Network Denial of Service: Reflection Amplification (T1498.002) with moderate confidence (65%), with evidence including wAF bypass risks could enable DoS via abused web application traffic, and perimeter defenses like WAFs... overlooked in patch management (implied DoS vector). These correlations help security teams understand the attack chain and develop appropriate defensive measures based on the observed tactics and techniques.