CVE-2023-29181: 
FortiOS vulnerability analysis and mitigation

CVE-2023-29181 is a high-severity format string vulnerability discovered in the Fclicense daemon of FortiOS. The vulnerability was internally discovered by Gwendal Guégniaud of Fortinet Product Security team during an internal audit of the SSL-VPN component and was initially published on June 12, 2023. The vulnerability affects multiple versions of FortiOS (versions 7.2.0-7.2.4, 7.0.0-7.0.11, 6.4.0-6.4.12, 6.2.0-6.2.14, and all 6.0 versions), FortiProxy (versions 7.2.0-7.2.4, 7.0.0-7.0.10, 2.0.0-2.0.12, 1.2.0-1.2.13, 1.1.0-1.1.6, 1.0.0-1.0.7), and FortiPAM (versions 1.0.0-1.0.3) (Fortinet Advisory).

The vulnerability is classified as a use of externally-controlled format string vulnerability (CWE-134) in the Fclicense daemon. It has been assigned a CVSSv3 score of 8.3 (High severity), indicating its significant potential impact. The vulnerability requires authentication for exploitation, where a remote authenticated attacker can potentially execute arbitrary code or commands through specially crafted requests (Fortinet Advisory).

If successfully exploited, the vulnerability allows an authenticated attacker to execute unauthorized code or commands on the affected systems. This could potentially lead to system compromise and unauthorized access to sensitive information (Fortinet Advisory).

Fortinet has released patches to address this vulnerability. Organizations are advised to upgrade to FortiOS version 7.4.0 or above, FortiOS version 7.2.5 or above, FortiOS version 7.0.12 or above, FortiOS version 6.4.13 or above, FortiOS version 6.2.15 or above, FortiProxy version 7.2.5 or above, FortiProxy version 7.0.11 or above, FortiProxy version 2.0.13 or above, or FortiPAM version 1.1.0 or above. Additionally, a virtual patch named 'FortiOS.Fclicense.Daemon.Format.String.' is available in FMWP db update 23.104 (Fortinet Advisory).