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Full vulnerability report · 2026
CVE-2026-4266High confidence

WatchGuard Firebox Insecure Deserialization in Fireware Access Portal

WatchGuard · Fireware OS

8.4HighCVSS 4.0
Recommended action
Within 7 days

High technical severity; prioritise exposed affected systems while verifying vendor guidance.

Patch available
R
Operational reassessment

Published severity in operational context

Open reassessment dashboard →
Published severityHighOperational priority:Medium, lowered one band.downgradedsince 27 Aug 2026

Evidence used

  • No CISA KEV confirmation is currently recorded.
  • Exploitation requires an existing local or physical foothold with privileges.
  • EPSS is 0.39% for the current model date.

Compensating controls

  • Validate the affected product branch and deploy the verified fixed release.
  • Restrict local access and enforce least privilege on affected hosts.
  • Monitor vendor guidance and exploitation sources for a material change.

Verification

  1. Confirm that the asset runs WatchGuard Fireware OS and falls inside the recorded affected range.
  2. Verify the installed build against the product-specific fixed version after deployment.
  3. Validate exposure, authentication requirements and compensating controls in the actual environment.
  4. Reopen this reassessment when CVSS, KEV, EPSS, exploit evidence or remediation changes.
Mitigation target: As exposure requiresRemediation target: Within 365 days

This automated reassessment organises public evidence. It does not know asset exposure, business impact or control effectiveness and does not replace CVSS or a human risk decision.

Optional official sources

National CERT insights
?CERT means Computer Emergency Response Team; CSIRT is the closely related term Computer Security Incident Response Team.

Choose official national sources for this report. Each advisory shows its original language. Your selection is remembered on this device and included in shared links.

Official European source

ENISA European Vulnerability Database

Official EUVD identifiers, advisory evidence and known-exploited context. Missing fields are not treated as evidence of low risk.

1 current
ENISA EUVD identifier

EUVD-2026-17079

No EUVD known-exploited evidence

An Insecure Deserialization vulnerability in WatchGuard Fireware OS allows an attacker that has obtained write access to the local filesystem through another vulnerability to execute arbitrary code in the context of the portald user. Note, this vulnerability does not affect Firebox platforms that do not support the Access Portal feature, including the T15 and T35.

EUVD state
Present in the current official mapping
Known exploitation
Not present in the current ENISA EUVD known-exploited dataset. This is not proof of no exploitation.
ENISA score
8.4 · CVSS 4.0
Advisory evidence
No linked advisory details stored yet
Recommended actionWithin 7 days

High technical severity; prioritise exposed affected systems while verifying vendor guidance.

Patch available
01

What, why and how

An Insecure Deserialization vulnerability in WatchGuard Fireware OS allows an attacker that has obtained write access to the local filesystem through another vulnerability to execute arbitrary code in the context of the portald user. Note, this vulnerability does not affect Firebox platforms that do not support the Access Portal feature, including the T15 and T35.

What

An Insecure Deserialization vulnerability in WatchGuard Fireware OS allows an attacker that has obtained write access to the local filesystem through another vulnerability to execute arbitrary code in the context of the portald user. Note, this vulnerability does not affect Firebox platforms that do not support the Access Portal feature, including the T15 and T35.

Why

Attacker-influenced serialised data is reconstructed as trusted objects, which can invoke dangerous application behaviour.

How

An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation with elevated privileges. If successful, the issue may execute code or commands in the affected security context.

What

An Insecure Deserialization vulnerability in WatchGuard Fireware OS allows an attacker that has obtained write access to the local filesystem through another vulnerability to execute arbitrary code in the context of the portald user. Note, this vulnerability does not affect Firebox platforms that do not support the Access Portal feature, including the T15 and T35.

Why

Attacker-influenced serialised data is reconstructed as trusted objects, which can invoke dangerous application behaviour.

How

An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation with elevated privileges. If successful, the issue may execute code or commands in the affected security context.

02

Exploit reality and attack path

CVSS severity, EPSS forecast probability, public exploit material and CISA-confirmed exploitation are separate signals.

Observed exploitation
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
No confirmed evidence

No CISA KEV match was present at the last successful refresh. This means no confirmation from that source, not proof of no exploitation.

Public PoC / exploit material
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
None recorded

No exploit-tagged reference or CISA SSVC proof-of-concept state is currently recorded. Research may still exist outside the structured feeds.

Likely attack path
local access → Deserialization of Untrusted Data → execute code or commands in the affected security context
Attack surface
Local
Privileges required
High: elevated access is required
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low: no specialised conditions are recorded
Security boundary
Not a CVSS 4.0 base metric
Weakness
?CWE means Common Weakness Enumeration: a standard category for the underlying weakness.
CWE-502 ↗

CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data. The product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently ensuring that the resulting data will be valid.

CVSS vector
?CVSS means Common Vulnerability Scoring System. The vector records the metric values used to calculate technical severity.
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Common Vulnerability Scoring System 4.0: the compact vector below is decoded into plain language.

AVLocalAttack vector: The attacker needs local access to the vulnerable system.ACLowAttack complexity: No specialised conditions are required beyond attacker-controlled input.ATNoneAttack requirements: No additional deployment or execution condition is required.PRHighPrivileges required: The attacker needs elevated or administrative privileges.UINoneUser interaction: No action by another user is required.VCHighVulnerable-system confidentiality: A successful attack can cause a major loss.VIHighVulnerable-system integrity: A successful attack can cause a major loss.VAHighVulnerable-system availability: A successful attack can cause a major loss.SCNoneSubsequent-system confidentiality: No direct loss is represented by this metric.SINoneSubsequent-system integrity: No direct loss is represented by this metric.SANoneSubsequent-system availability: No direct loss is represented by this metric.
Post-exploitation / living off the land
After compromise, an attacker may use built-in shells, scripting engines, scheduled tasks and native network utilities for discovery, persistence or movement. This is a plausible LoTL path, not evidence that it has occurred for every attack.
Remote code executionCWE-502
A

Official authority intelligence

Only matched European and national findings are included. Language selectors and unavailable sources are omitted.

ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2026-17079Official EUVD mapping

An Insecure Deserialization vulnerability in WatchGuard Fireware OS allows an attacker that has obtained write access to the local filesystem through another vulnerability to execute arbitrary code in the context of the portald user. Note, this vulnerability does not affect Firebox platforms that do not support the Access Portal feature, including the T15 and T35.

Official EUVD record ↗
BSI · German · WID-SEC-2026-0892WatchGuard Firebox: Mehrere Schwachstellen

Ein entfernter, authentisierter Angreifer kann mehrere Schwachstellen in WatchGuard Firebox ausnutzen, um beliebigen Programmcode auszuführen oder einen Denial of Service zu verursachen.

Official advisory ↗
Canadian Centre for Cyber Security · English · AV26-289WatchGuard security advisory (AV26-289)

On March 26, 2026, WatchGuard published security advisories to address vulnerabilities in the following products:

Official advisory ↗
Cyber Security Agency of Singapore · English · CSA-SB-20260401Security Bulletin 01 Apr 2026

The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore included this CVE in its official Security Bulletin 01 Apr 2026, published on 1 April 2026. Open the linked bulletin for the product, severity and reference information published in that issue.

Official advisory ↗
JVN iPedia · Japanese · JVNDB-2026-028643ウォッチガード・テクノロジーのWatchGuard Firewareにおける信頼できないデータのデシリアライゼーションに関する脆弱性

WatchGuard Fireware OSの不適切なデシリアライズの脆弱性により、他の脆弱性を介してローカルファイルシステムへの書き込み権限を取得した攻撃者が、portaldユーザーのコンテキストで任意のコードを実行できます。この脆弱性は、Access Portal機能をサポートしていないFireboxプラットフォーム（T15およびT35を含む）には影響しません。

Official advisory ↗
03

Patch and workaround

Operational remediation based on structured source evidence.

Status
?Patch availability is based on structured fixed-version fields and authoritative update references. If no fix is verified, check the vendor advisory before making a change.
Patch available
Affected
Fireware OS: 2025.1 < 2026.2, 12.1 < 12.12, 12.1 < 12.11.9
Fixed
Fireware OS 2026.2, Fireware OS 12.12, Fireware OS 12.11.9
Action
Review the linked authoritative reference and apply the recorded fixed release appropriate to the affected product branch.
Workaround
No verified workaround is recorded. Limit untrusted access and use least privilege until authoritative guidance is available.
04

Evidence and provenance

Published 30 Mar 2026 · Last source change 27 Aug 2026, 22:58 UTC · CWE-502 · Deserialization of Untrusted Data

CVE recordCVE.org · 5.2
CVSS sourceCNA
EPSS source
?The date BlackTree first stored a score for this CVE from the daily FIRST EPSS feed.
FIRST · tracked since 2026-08-14
European sourceENISA EUVD · EUVD-2026-17079
Product sourceCNA
Remediation sourceCVE/CNA references
CWE sourceCNA
NVD statusNVD enriched

Core structured fields are present and their contributing authorities are shown above.

Material change intelligence

What changed after publication

View recent updates ↗
  1. Affected versionsThe structured affected or fixed version information changed.
    Before
    2025.1 < 2026.2; 12.1 < 12.12 · Fixed: No fixed version is explicitly recorded in the structured CVE data.
    After
    2025.1 < 2026.2; 12.1 < 12.12; 12.1 < 12.11.9 · Fixed: No fixed version is explicitly recorded in the structured CVE data.
    CNA ↗
  2. Remediation statusRemediation status changed from Awaiting fix to Mitigation available.
    Before
    Awaiting fix
    After
    Mitigation available
    Canadian Centre for Cyber Security ↗
Material fields only · duplicate refreshes suppressed · history retained for the configured operational retention period
CVE published
Remediation guidance recorded
ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2026-17079↗Canadian Centre for Cyber Security remediation guidance↗Vendor advisory↗CVE authority or vendor reference↗Official CVE record (CNA and ADP data)↗NVD record↗
Technical terms and abbreviations used in this report
CVE
Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures: the public identifier for one disclosed vulnerability.
CVSS
Common Vulnerability Scoring System: a technical severity framework; it is not patching priority by itself.
EPSS
Exploit Prediction Scoring System: FIRST's estimate of the probability that exploitation activity will be observed in the next 30 days; it is a forecast, not confirmation.
CWE
Common Weakness Enumeration: the standard category describing the underlying software or hardware weakness.
CNA
CVE Numbering Authority: an organisation authorised to assign and publish CVE records.
CISA ADP
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Authorized Data Publisher: structured enrichment added to a CVE record.
NVD
National Vulnerability Database: NIST's enrichment service for CVE records.
CERT / CSIRT
A computer security incident response team that publishes warnings or coordinates incident response.
PoC
Proof of concept: public material that demonstrates or helps reproduce exploitation.
CSAF
Common Security Advisory Framework: a machine-readable format for security advisories.
LoTL
Living off the land: abuse of legitimate tools or system functions during an attack.
Free version - for non-commercial use only.CVE-2026-4266 · cve.blacktree.nl