CVE-2025-3871VulnerabilityPublished 16 Jul 2025Updated 18 Jul 2025

CVE-2025-3871: Fortra GoAnywhere MFT · Missing Authorization

Affects Fortra GoAnywhere MFTSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.3 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.3Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 31% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: Low

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 16 Jul 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Fortra GoAnywhere MFT	Affected =0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate this vulnerability, European organizations should prioritize upgrading Fortra GoAnywhere MFT to version 7.8.1 or later once the vendor releases a patch. Until a patch is available, organizations should consider disabling the GOTP email-based 2FA method if feasible, or ensure that all user accounts have verified email addresses configured to prevent triggering the vulnerability. Implementing network-level access controls such as IP whitelisting or VPN requirements can reduce exposure to unauthenticated attackers. Monitoring authentication logs for unusual 2FA failures or account disablement events can help detect exploitation attempts early. Additionally, organizations should review and tighten authorization checks around 2FA workflows and user account management. Incident response plans should include procedures for rapid re-enablement of disabled accounts to minimize downtime. Finally, educating users and administrators about this vulnerability and enforcing strong account management policies will reduce the attack surface.

Description

Broken access control in Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT prior to 7.8.1 allows an attacker to create a denial of service situation when configured to use GoAnywhere One-Time Password (GOTP) email two-factor authentication (2FA) and the user has not set an email address. In this scenario, the attacker may enter the email address of a known user when prompted and the user will be disabled if that user has configured GOTP.

Impact

For European organizations using Fortra GoAnywhere MFT, this vulnerability poses a risk of operational disruption. GoAnywhere MFT is commonly used for secure file transfers in sectors such as finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and government. A denial of service on user accounts can halt critical file exchange workflows, delay business processes, and impact compliance with data handling regulations like GDPR if data transfers are interrupted. Since the attack requires no authentication or user interaction, it can be executed remotely by any attacker aware of valid user email addresses, which may be obtainable through social engineering or public sources. The impact is primarily on availability, potentially causing downtime or forcing emergency account recovery procedures. Organizations with strict uptime requirements or those relying heavily on automated file transfers may experience significant operational and reputational damage. However, the lack of confidentiality or integrity compromise limits the risk of data breaches or unauthorized data manipulation.

CWE-862Missing Authorization (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #4OWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product does not perform an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.
Architecture and Design
Divide the product into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Reduce the attack surface by carefully mapping roles with data and functionality. Use role-based access control (RBAC) to enforce the roles at the appropriate boundaries.
Architecture and Design
Ensure that access control checks are performed related to the business logic. These checks may be different than the access control checks that are applied to more generic resources such as files, connections, processes, memory, and database records.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.3.8 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.2 (opens in a new tab)
V7.2.2 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Exploitation of Thunderbolt Protection Flaws (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

fortra.com/security/advisories/product-security/FI-2025-009 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 24 Jul 2025, 00:57 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-862

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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