CVE-2026-84392 in FortiPAM
Summary
by MITRE • 09/08/2026
A NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability [CWE-476] vulnerability in Fortinet FortiOS 7.4 all versions, FortiOS 7.2 all versions, FortiPAM 1.9.0, FortiPAM 1.8 all versions, FortiPAM 1.7 all versions, FortiPAM 1.6 all versions, FortiPAM 1.5 all versions, FortiPAM 1.4 all versions, FortiPAM 1.3 all versions, FortiPAM 1.2 all versions, FortiPAM 1.1 all versions, FortiPAM 1.0 all versions, FortiProxy 7.6.0 through 7.6.6, FortiProxy 7.4 all versions, FortiProxy 7.2 all versions may allow an authenticated attacker to crash the httpsd daemon via crafted HTTP requests.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/08/2026
The identified vulnerability represents a critical software defect classified under CWE-476, which denotes a NULL Pointer Dereference condition within the core web server components of Fortinet’s enterprise security infrastructure. This flaw affects multiple product lines including FortiOS versions 7.2 and 7.4 across all releases, as well as the entire legacy line of FortiPAM from version 1.0 through 1.9.0. Additionally, it impacts specific iterations of FortiProxy, specifically versions 7.6.0 to 7.6.6 and all versions of 7.2 and 7.4. The vulnerability resides within the httpsd daemon, which is responsible for handling Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) traffic on these devices. This component serves as the primary interface for administrative access and API interactions, making its stability paramount to the operational integrity of the security appliance or proxy server.
From a technical perspective, the root cause involves improper validation of input data prior to memory allocation or pointer assignment within the httpsd process. When an authenticated user submits crafted HTTP requests containing specific malformed parameters or headers, the application fails to verify whether a required object exists in memory before attempting to access it. Consequently, the program attempts to dereference a NULL pointer, which is a reserved address that cannot be accessed by standard applications. This violation triggers an immediate segmentation fault within the operating system, causing the httpsd daemon process to terminate abruptly. Because this service handles critical management and proxy functions, its sudden termination disrupts all active connections managed by that specific instance of the daemon.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is primarily characterized by a denial-of-service condition rather than unauthorized data access or remote code execution. Since exploitation requires authentication, an attacker must first possess valid credentials for the affected device. Once authenticated, the adversary can repeatedly send the crafted HTTP requests to induce crashes in the httpsd service. This results in intermittent unavailability of the management interface and potentially disrupts proxy services if the architecture relies on this daemon for session handling or SSL termination tasks. While the immediate effect is a crash requiring a restart of the affected process, repeated exploitation could lead to resource exhaustion or instability in high-traffic environments where rapid recovery from service interruptions is critical for maintaining network availability SLAs.
In terms of threat modeling and industry standards, this vulnerability aligns with MITRE ATT&CK technique T1499, Endpoint Denial of Service, specifically under the sub-category of Resource Exhaustion via Crash or Instability. The attack vector falls under Initial Access as it requires prior authentication, placing it in a lower severity tier compared to unauthenticated remote code execution vulnerabilities but still posing significant risk due to the potential for service disruption against high-value targets such as firewalls and web proxies. Security operations centers should monitor for unusual spikes in HTTP error responses or process restarts associated with the httpsd daemon on affected Fortinet products, which may indicate active exploitation attempts by insiders or compromised accounts seeking to degrade security posture through denial of service.
Mitigation strategies must focus primarily on applying vendor-provided software updates that patch the memory handling logic within the httpsd component. Administrators should immediately upgrade FortiOS, FortiPAM, and FortiProxy versions to their respective latest stable releases where this NULL pointer check has been implemented. In scenarios where immediate patching is not feasible due to operational constraints or testing requirements, network-level controls can be employed as a temporary countermeasure. This includes restricting access to the management interfaces of affected devices using strict firewall rules that limit source IP addresses to known administrative hosts only. Additionally, implementing Web Application Firewall (WAF) policies capable of detecting and blocking malformed HTTP requests with anomalous header structures or parameter lengths may help mitigate exploitation attempts by filtering out the crafted payloads before they reach the vulnerable application logic.