Background exploitation KEV catalog
CVE-2022-23176

WatchGuard Firebox and XTM Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

WatchGuard Firebox and XTM appliances allow a remote attacker with unprivileged credentials to access the system with a privileged management session via exposed management access. This vulnerability impacts Fireware OS before 12.7.2_U1,…

CheckOps priority index
5.6/10 Patch within 7 days
Severity8.8
Probability1.1
Exploitation3/5

Severity = CVSS. Probability = EPSS (FIRST). Exploitation = public signals: KEV, EUVD, ransomware, EPSS above 10 %, no account required.

EPSS · today 10.8% higher than 95.8% of CVEs
CVSS 3.1 8.8 AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:
Exploited for 1,667 days 11 Apr 2022
CISA due date 02 May 2022 for US federal agencies

Exploitation probability EPSS · FIRST

05010026 Sep05 Oct15 Oct24 Oct02 Nov
EPSS probability (%)Percentile among all CVEs

Exploitation signals 3 / 5

  • KEV catalog (CISA)11 Apr 2022
  • Exploited in EUVD (ENISA)11 Apr 2022
  • Used by ransomwareno
  • EPSS above 10 %10.8%
  • No account, over the networkno

What to do

Fix

Apply the vendor’s fix as soon as it is available.

CISA guidance: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Meanwhile

Take the service off the internet or restrict access to it, watch the logs and look for signs of compromise.

Manufacturers (CRA)

Exploited vulnerability in your product: early warning to ENISA within 24 h, then notification within 72 h (Article 14 of the Cyber Resilience Act). The CRA explained

Description ENISA EUVD

WatchGuard Firebox and XTM appliances allow a remote attacker with unprivileged credentials to access the system with a privileged management session via exposed management access. This vulnerability impacts Fireware OS before 12.7.2_U1, 12.x before 12.1.3_U3, and 12.2.x through 12.5.x before 12.5.7_U3.

Affected products

Firebox and XTM

Open source packages OSV

Affected libraries according to OSV, with fixed versions.

Timeline

  1. Published

  2. Exploitation reported (ENISA)

  3. Added to the KEV catalog

  4. CISA remediation due date

  5. EPSS peak: 10.8%

References

Other exploited vulnerabilities from the same vendor

  • CVE-2025-14733WatchGuard Firebox Out of Bounds Write Vulnerability
    7.6 · Background exploitation
  • CVE-2025-9242WatchGuard Firebox Out-of-Bounds Write Vulnerability
    8.9 · Background exploitation
  • CVE-2022-26318WatchGuard Firebox and XTM Appliances Arbitrary Code Execution
    8.7 · Background exploitation

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Sources: CISA KEV · ENISA EUVD · FIRST EPSS · OSV. Public data aggregated by CheckOps, updated automatically. Source texts remain the property of their authors. All exploited vulnerabilities