Headline
WatchGuard Warns of Active Exploitation of Critical Fireware OS VPN Vulnerability
WatchGuard has released fixes to address a critical security flaw in Fireware OS that it said has been exploited in real-world attacks. Tracked as CVE-2025-14733 (CVSS score: 9.3), the vulnerability has been described as a case of out-of-bounds write affecting the iked process that could allow a remote unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code. "This vulnerability affects both the
Vulnerability / Network Security
WatchGuard has released fixes to address a critical security flaw in Fireware OS that it said has been exploited in real-world attacks.
Tracked as CVE-2025-14733 (CVSS score: 9.3), the vulnerability has been described as a case of out-of-bounds write affecting the iked process that could allow a remote unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code.
“This vulnerability affects both the mobile user VPN with IKEv2 and the branch office VPN using IKEv2 when configured with a dynamic gateway peer,” the company said in a Thursday advisory.
“If the Firebox was previously configured with the mobile user VPN with IKEv2 or a branch office VPN using IKEv2 to a dynamic gateway peer, and both of those configurations have since been deleted, that Firebox may still be vulnerable if a branch office VPN to a static gateway peer is still configured.”
The vulnerability impacts the following versions of Fireware OS -
- 2025.1 - Fixed in 2025.1.4
- 12.x - Fixed in 12.11.6
- 12.5.x (T15 & T35 models) - Fixed in 12.5.15
- 12.3.1 (FIPS-certified release) - Fixed in 12.3.1_Update4 (B728352)
- 11.x (11.10.2 up to and including 11.12.4_Update1) - End-of-Life
WatchGuard acknowledged that it has observed threat actors actively attempting to exploit this vulnerability in the wild, with the attacks originating from the following IP addresses -
- 45.95.19[.]50
- 51.15.17[.]89
- 172.93.107[.]67
- 199.247.7[.]82
Interestingly, the IP address “199.247.7[.]82” was also flagged by Arctic Wolf earlier this week as linked to the exploitation of two recently disclosed security vulnerabilities in Fortinet FortiOS, FortiWeb, FortiProxy, and FortiSwitchManager (CVE-2025-59718 and CVE-2025-59719, CVSS scores: 9.8).
The Seattle-based company has also shared multiple indicators of compromise (IoCs) that device owners can use to determine if their own instances have been infected -
- A log message stating “Received peer certificate chain is longer than 8. Reject this certificate chain” when the Firebox receives an IKE2 Auth payload with more than 8 certificates
- An IKE_AUTH request log message with an abnormally large CERT payload size (greater than 2000 bytes)
- During a successful exploit, the iked process will hang, interrupting VPN connections
- After a failed or successful exploit, the IKED process will crash and generate a fault report on the Firebox
The disclosure comes a little over a month after the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) added another critical WatchGuard Fireware OS flaw (CVE-2025-9242, CVSS score: 9.3) to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog after reports of active exploitation.
It’s currently not known if these two sets of attacks are related. Users are advised to apply the updates as soon as possible to secure against the threat.
As temporary mitigation for devices with vulnerable Branch Office VPN (BOVPN) configurations, the company has urged administrators to disable dynamic peer BOVPNs, create an alias that includes the static IP addresses of remote BOVPN peers, add new firewall policies that allow access from the alias, and disable the default built-in policies that handle VPN traffic.
Found this article interesting? Follow us on Google News, Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.
Related news
This week, Joe laments on 2025, and what we can think of in 2026 in the wild world of cybersecurity.
This week, Joe laments on 2025, and what we can think of in 2026 in the wild world of cybersecurity.
Threat actors have begun to exploit two newly disclosed security flaws in Fortinet FortiGate devices, less than a week after public disclosure. Cybersecurity company Arctic Wolf said it observed active intrusions involving malicious single sign-on (SSO) logins on FortiGate appliances on December 12, 2025. The attacks exploit two critical authentication bypasses (CVE-2025-59718 and CVE-2025-59719
Threat actors have begun to exploit two newly disclosed security flaws in Fortinet FortiGate devices, less than a week after public disclosure. Cybersecurity company Arctic Wolf said it observed active intrusions involving malicious single sign-on (SSO) logins on FortiGate appliances on December 12, 2025. The attacks exploit two critical authentication bypasses (CVE-2025-59718 and CVE-2025-59719
If you use a smartphone, browse the web, or unzip files on your computer, you are in the crosshairs this week. Hackers are currently exploiting critical flaws in the daily software we all rely on—and in some cases, they started attacking before a fix was even ready. Below, we list the urgent updates you need to install right now to stop these active threats. ⚡ Threat of the Week Apple and
If you use a smartphone, browse the web, or unzip files on your computer, you are in the crosshairs this week. Hackers are currently exploiting critical flaws in the daily software we all rely on—and in some cases, they started attacking before a fix was even ready. Below, we list the urgent updates you need to install right now to stop these active threats. ⚡ Threat of the Week Apple and
Fortinet, Ivanti, and SAP have moved to address critical security flaws in their products that, if successfully exploited, could result in an authentication bypass and code execution. The Fortinet vulnerabilities affect FortiOS, FortiWeb, FortiProxy, and FortiSwitchManager and relate to a case of improper verification of a cryptographic signature. They are tracked as CVE-2025-59718 and
Fortinet, Ivanti, and SAP have moved to address critical security flaws in their products that, if successfully exploited, could result in an authentication bypass and code execution. The Fortinet vulnerabilities affect FortiOS, FortiWeb, FortiProxy, and FortiSwitchManager and relate to a case of improper verification of a cryptographic signature. They are tracked as CVE-2025-59718 and
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Wednesday added a critical security flaw impacting WatchGuard Fireware to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, based on evidence of active exploitation. The vulnerability in question is CVE-2025-9242 (CVSS score: 9.3), an out-of-bounds write vulnerability affecting Fireware OS 11.10.2 up to and including
Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a recently patched critical security flaw in WatchGuard Fireware that could allow unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary code. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-9242 (CVSS score: 9.3), is described as an out-of-bounds write vulnerability affecting Fireware OS 11.10.2 up to and including 11.12.4_Update1, 12.0 up to and including
The security landscape now moves at a pace no patch cycle can match. Attackers aren’t waiting for quarterly updates or monthly fixes—they adapt within hours, blending fresh techniques with old, forgotten flaws to create new openings. A vulnerability closed yesterday can become the blueprint for tomorrow’s breach. This week’s recap explores the trends driving that constant churn: how threat
WatchGuard has issued a critical security alert for its Firebox firewalls due to a serious vulnerability, CVE-2025-9242. Learn what this 'out-of-bounds write' flaw means, which Fireware OS versions are affected, and the urgent steps to take to protect your network from remote attacks.