CVE-2025-9242
An Out-of-bounds Write vulnerability in the WatchGuard Fireware OS iked process may 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. 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.
do firstApply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Can a WAF block it? No. The vulnerability is in the IKEv2 VPN protocol handling, which is not HTTP-based, so the malicious input reaches the vulnerable code via a non-HTTP network protocol. Because it is not HTTP traffic, a web application firewall cannot filter or block the attack.
Also consider: patch
Based on an AI reading of the CVE description, and no vendor rule found yet. We check Cloudflare, AWS, Google Cloud Armor and Azure; for Akamai, Imperva, Fastly, F5, ask your vendor.
Is CVE-2025-9242 being exploited?
Yes. CVE-2025-9242 appears in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which means exploitation in the wild has been confirmed and reported. Treat it as active rather than theoretical, and patch it ahead of higher-scoring vulnerabilities that carry no exploitation evidence.
How severe is CVE-2025-9242?
CVE-2025-9242 is rated Critical with a CVSS score of 9.8. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.
Is there a patch for CVE-2025-9242?
Yes. A fix has been recorded for CVE-2025-9242. The vendor advisory is the authority on the exact fixed version — apply it from there rather than from a summary.
What does CVE-2025-9242 affect?
CVE-2025-9242 affects watchguard:fireware. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.
Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.
- affected>= 11.0 and <= 11.12.4+541730
- affected>= 12.0 and < 12.11.4
- affected>= 2025.0 and < 2025.1.1
- affected>= 12.0 and < 12.3.1+722811
- affected>= 12.0 and < 12.5.13
As published in the CVE Program record. A version outside these ranges is not a statement that it is unaffected — vendors sometimes understate a range, and distribution-backported builds carry upstream numbers that do not reflect what was patched into them.
public exploits
Unvetted proof-of-concept code on GitHub: 1 GitHub proof of concept
Listed so you can judge urgency, not as a recommendation to run anything. GitHub “proofs of concept” are unvetted: some are fake or carry malware. Exploit-DB marks the entries its staff verified.
cisa ssvc
- exploitation
- active
- automatable
- yes
- technical impact
- total
Assessed by CISA 11 Nov 2025 (SSVC 2.0.3).
timeline
- 17 Sept 2025Published
- 1 Oct 2025First proof-of-concept repository on GitHub (unvetted) · 14 days later
- 11 Nov 2025CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation active · 41 days later
- 12 Nov 2025Added to CISA KEV (exploited in the wild) · 1 day later
- 3 Dec 2025CISA remediation due date (US federal agencies) · 21 days later
- 10 Aug 2026CVE record last updated · 251 days (about 8 months) later
- 2 Nov 2026Analysed by vulneraibility.com · 84 days (about 3 months) later
- Advisorypsirt.watchguard.com /CVE-2025-9242
- Advisorywatchguard.com /wgrd-psirt/advisory/wgsa-2025-00015
- Exploitgithub.com /watchtowrlabs/watchTowr-vs-WatchGuard-CVE-2025-9242/blob/main/watchTowr-vs-Watc
- Linkcisa.gov /known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2025-9242
sources
- CVE List (CVE.org): description, affected versions, references; CVE Terms of Use
- NVD: CVSS and CPE data
- CISA KEV catalog: exploitation, date added, due date
- CISA Vulnrichment (ADP): SSVC decision points
- FIRST EPSS: exploit probability and percentile
- PoC-in-GitHub: GitHub repositories that claim a proof of concept
- Summary, impact and triage tags: written by our AI analysis pipeline from the sources above. Check them against the sources.