Dark Web News Analysis
A threat actor on a known cybercrime forum is advertising the sale of unauthorized Remote Code Execution (RCE), Administrative, and CLI access to a FortiOS-based firewall belonging to a finance company in Honduras.
Brinztech Analysis:
- The Listing: This is a “crown jewels” listing for network security. The seller is not just offering a VPN login; they are selling full root-level control over the firewall. The mention of “RCE” (Remote Code Execution) and “CLI” (Command Line Interface) access confirms the attacker has bypassed the standard web interface limitations and can execute underlying OS commands.
- The Vector: This specific capability profile strongly suggests the exploitation of recent, critical Fortinet vulnerabilities.
- CVE-2025-58325 (FortiOS CLI Bypass): Disclosed in Oct 2025, this flaw allows authenticated attackers to execute arbitrary system commands via the CLI.
- CVE-2025-64446 (FortiWeb/Admin Creation): While primarily for FortiWeb, similar auth-bypass flaws have plagued FortiOS, allowing attackers to create rogue admin accounts to establish the persistence being sold here.
- Regional Context: This incident aligns with a broader surge in cyberattacks targeting Latin American critical infrastructure in late 2025. Recent intelligence (Source 3.1) highlights groups like FamousSparrow actively targeting government entities in Honduras; this finance sector breach suggests the campaign is widening to private capital.
Key Cybersecurity Insights
This alleged access sale presents a critical and immediate threat:
- Critical Infrastructure Compromise: The sale of firewall access with RCE and administrative privileges represents a severe compromise of a fundamental network security control. The attacker effectively “owns” the perimeter and can disable logging, decrypt traffic, or pivot internally without detection.
- High-Value Target & Data Exposure: As a finance company, the victim organization holds sensitive financial data, making this incident a high-stakes threat for data exfiltration, financial fraud, and potential regulatory breaches (e.g., CNBS compliance).
- Potential for Widespread Impact: RCE and administrative access on a firewall can lead to complete network traversal. This is the ideal staging ground for a ransomware deployment, allowing the attacker to map the network and encrypt core banking servers from the gateway inwards.
- Vulnerability Indicator: The access level (CLI/RCE) confirms that the victim failed to patch critical vulnerabilities disclosed in Q3/Q4 2025, highlighting a dangerous gap in vulnerability management.
Mitigation Strategies
In response to this claim, financial institutions in Honduras must take immediate action:
- Immediate Firewall Audit (IOC Hunting): Conduct an urgent security audit of all FortiOS devices. Check for unauthorized local admin accounts, suspicious CLI command history, or unexpected VPN tunnels created recently.
- Emergency Patching: Ensure all systems are updated to the latest FortiOS versions (e.g., 7.4.6 or 7.6.1) to mitigate CVE-2025-58325 and related RCE flaws.
- Disable External Admin Access: Immediately disable HTTP/HTTPS/SSH administrative access on the public-facing (WAN) interface. Management should only be possible via a secure, internal management VLAN or VPN.
- Enforce Strong Access Controls: Implement mandatory Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for all administrative access points. Verify that no “service accounts” have been left with default passwords.
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Questions or Feedback? For expert advice, use our ‘Ask an Analyst’ feature. Brinztech does not warrant the validity of external claims. For general inquiries or to report this post, please email us: contact@brinztech.com
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