Fortinet Code Execution Flaw Exploited in PivotC2 RAT Attacks
C SecurityWeek · · CVE-2025-25249
Admiralty grading (A–F · 1–6)
Source reliability
- A Completely reliable
- B Usually reliable
- C Fairly reliable
- D Not usually reliable
- E Unreliable
- F Cannot be judged
Information credibility
- 1 Confirmed
- 2 Probably true
- 3 Possibly true
- 4 Doubtful
- 5 Improbable
- 6 Cannot be judged
NATO Admiralty (AJP-2.1) grades confidence, independent of the risk score. Cross-source corroboration isn't tracked for non-CVE news, so single-source items are capped at a lower credibility number; a low number does not imply low quality.
Key metrics
- CVSS
- 8.1
- EPSS
- 1%
- KEV due date
- 12 September 2026
Affected versions
Key insight
The vulnerability is being actively exploited by a Node.js-based RAT (PivotC2) and has been added to the CISA KEV catalog, indicating rapid proliferation and heightened risk.
Description
CVE-2025-25249 is a high-severity, unauthenticated remote code execution vulnerability in Fortinet FortiOS and FortiSwitchManager with a CVSS score of 7.4. Attackers are actively exploiting the flaw to deploy a Node.js-based remote access trojan (PivotC2). CISA has added the vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog and is urging US federal agencies to patch within three days. Patches are available for FortiOS versions 7.6.4, 7.4.9, 7.2.12, and 7.0.18, and FortiSwitchManager versions 7.2.7 and 7.0.6.
Risk score
- cvss base
- 81.00
- kev bonus
- 20.00
- epss bonus
- 0.00
- poc bonus
- 15.00
- raw before weight
- 116.00
- industry weight
- 1.21
- freshness factor
- 1.00
- exploitability factor
- 1.00
- days old
- 0.00
- vendor mismatch penalty
- 0.00
Path: operational