Introduction
Privilege escalation on network security appliances can grant attackers deep access to enterprise infrastructure. CVE-2025-58325, disclosed in October 2025, enables authenticated users on Fortinet FortiOS systems to bypass CLI command restrictions and execute privileged system commands. This vulnerability impacts a wide range of FortiOS versions, putting many enterprise and government deployments at risk of internal compromise.
Fortinet is a major global network security vendor, with its FortiGate product line widely deployed in critical environments. The company serves hundreds of thousands of customers and is a key player in the firewall and unified threat management market. Vulnerabilities in FortiOS have broad implications for network security worldwide.
Technical Information
CVE-2025-58325 is classified under CWE-684 (Incorrect Provision of Specified Functionality). The vulnerability resides in the FortiOS CLI command processing logic. Specifically, certain hidden or undocumented CLI command options are not properly restricted. A local authenticated attacker with CLI access can craft specific command syntax that bypasses the intended command restriction checks. This allows execution of privileged system commands that should only be accessible to higher-privileged accounts.
The vulnerability does not allow unauthenticated remote exploitation. Attackers must possess valid credentials for CLI access (such as SSH or console). Once authenticated, the attacker can issue specially crafted CLI commands that exploit the incomplete validation in the CLI parser, resulting in privilege escalation and potential full system compromise.
No public code snippets or detailed exploit syntax have been disclosed as of the advisory publication. The root cause is a failure in the CLI command restriction enforcement, allowing bypass via crafted command input.
Affected Systems and Versions
CVE-2025-58325 affects the following FortiOS versions:
- 7.6.0
- 7.4.0 through 7.4.5
- 7.2.5 through 7.2.10
- 7.0.0 through 7.0.15
- All versions of 6.4
Any FortiGate appliance or system running these versions is vulnerable if CLI access is available to an attacker. Both default and custom administrative configurations are affected if they allow CLI access to untrusted users.
Vendor Security History
Fortinet has a history of vulnerabilities in CLI and command processing components. Previous issues include command injection and privilege escalation flaws in FortiOS, FortiADC, and other product lines. Notable examples are CVE-2021-44171 (privilege escalation via switch-control CLI) and FG-IR-24-325 (format string vulnerability in CLI). The vendor maintains a regular PSIRT process and generally provides timely patches for supported versions, but end-of-support branches may not always receive fixes. Recurring issues in CLI processing indicate ongoing challenges in secure input validation and command restriction enforcement.