PEERSTITCH Malware Deployed via FortiOS Flaw Bypasses Checks on Tagged VPN Sessions

MediumCVSS 6.0The Hacker News · info@thehackernews.com (The Hacker News)·

At a glance

Severity
MediumCVSS 6.0
Used in attacks
Not on CISA’s list
Flaws named
CVE-2025-61624
Vendors and products
Fortinet
Reported by
1 outlet

A suspected advanced threat actor has been observed exploiting a security flaw in Fortinet FortiOS to deliver a previously unreported memory-resident ARM64 malware known as PEERSTITCH. The attack involves the exploitation of CVE-2025-61624 (CVSS score: 5.4), a path traversal flaw in the command line interpreter of FortiOS, FortiPAM, FortiProxy, and FortiSwitchManager that could allow a…

We summarise and link; this source is not one we hold a licence to reproduce. Everything below is what CyberBrief adds: the vulnerabilities involved, whether they are being exploited, who is named, and who else covered it.

Vulnerabilities referenced

  • Fortinet Fortios

    An Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') [CWE-22] vulnerability in Fortinet FortiOS 7.6.0 through 7.6.4, FortiOS 7.4.0 through 7.4.9, FortiOS 7.2 all versions, FortiOS 7.0 all versions, FortiOS 6.4 all versions, FortiPAM 1.7.0, 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 7.6.4, FortiProxy 7.4.0 through 7.4.11, FortiProxy 7.2 all versions, FortiProxy 7.0 all versions, FortiSwitchManager 7.2.0 through 7.2.7, FortiSwitchManager 7.0.0 through 7.0.6 may allow an authenticated attacker with admin profile and at least read-write permissions to write or delete arbitrary files via specific CLI commands.

    Patch or advisory available

    Full record →

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Coverage

One outlet has carried this so far.

  1. The Hacker News ↗Established SourceFirst reported

    2026-10-16 04:59 UTC

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