CVE-2025-1241: Fortra GoAnywhere Information Disclosure

CVE-2025-1241 Overview

CVE-2025-1241 is a cryptographic vulnerability affecting Fortra's GoAnywhere Managed File Transfer (MFT) platform and GoAnywhere Agents. The vulnerability stems from the use of a static initialization vector (IV) in the encryption implementation, which significantly weakens the cryptographic protection of encrypted values. This flaw allows authenticated admin users to perform brute-force attacks against encrypted data, potentially exposing sensitive information stored within the platform.

Critical Impact

Administrative users can leverage the static IV weakness to brute-force decrypt sensitive data, compromising the confidentiality of encrypted values within GoAnywhere MFT environments.

Affected Products

• Fortra GoAnywhere Managed File Transfer prior to version 7.10.0
• Fortra GoAnywhere Agents prior to version 2.2.0
• Deployments on Windows, Linux, and macOS operating systems

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-04-21 - CVE-2025-1241 published to NVD
• 2026-04-23 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-1241

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-326 (Inadequate Encryption Strength), which addresses scenarios where encryption mechanisms fail to provide sufficient protection for the sensitivity level of the data being protected. In the case of CVE-2025-1241, the cryptographic implementation within GoAnywhere MFT and GoAnywhere Agents uses a static initialization vector rather than a randomly generated one for each encryption operation.

The static IV fundamentally undermines the security properties of the encryption scheme. When the same IV is reused across multiple encryption operations with the same key, patterns in the plaintext can become discernible in the ciphertext. This is particularly problematic for block cipher modes like CBC (Cipher Block Chaining), where IV reuse can reveal information about identical plaintext blocks across different messages.

For organizations using GoAnywhere MFT for secure file transfers—a common use case in financial services, healthcare, and other regulated industries—this vulnerability represents a significant confidentiality risk. The attack requires administrative privileges, limiting the immediate threat surface, but insider threats or compromised admin accounts could leverage this weakness to decrypt sensitive transferred data.

Root Cause

The root cause is the implementation of a hardcoded or static initialization vector within the encryption routines of GoAnywhere MFT and GoAnywhere Agents. Proper cryptographic implementations require that IVs be unique and unpredictable for each encryption operation. The static IV approach violates fundamental cryptographic best practices outlined in NIST SP 800-38A and similar standards, creating an exploitable weakness in the encryption scheme.

Attack Vector

The attack is network-based and requires the attacker to possess administrative credentials to the GoAnywhere MFT platform. Once authenticated with admin privileges, an attacker can:

1. Access encrypted values stored within the system
2. Leverage knowledge of the static IV to reduce the cryptographic keyspace
3. Perform offline brute-force attacks against the encrypted data
4. Potentially recover plaintext values including credentials, file contents, or configuration data

The vulnerability mechanism involves the predictable nature of the static IV allowing cryptanalytic attacks. Because the same IV is used repeatedly, an attacker with sufficient encrypted samples can identify patterns and potentially recover plaintext through statistical analysis or brute-force methods. For detailed technical information, refer to the Fortra Security Advisory FI-2026-001.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-1241

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual administrative login patterns or authentication from unexpected IP addresses
• Bulk access to encrypted configuration values or stored credentials
• Administrative API calls accessing encryption-related endpoints at abnormal frequencies
• Export or download of encrypted data stores by admin accounts

Detection Strategies

• Monitor administrative account activity for anomalous access patterns to encrypted data stores
• Implement logging for all administrative operations that access sensitive encrypted values
• Configure alerts for repeated access to encryption keys or encrypted configuration data
• Review audit logs for administrative sessions with unusual duration or data access volumes

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable verbose logging for GoAnywhere MFT administrative operations
• Implement SIEM correlation rules to detect potential data exfiltration by admin accounts
• Deploy network monitoring to identify large data transfers from GoAnywhere MFT servers
• Establish baseline behavior patterns for administrative accounts to detect anomalies

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-1241

Immediate Actions Required

• Upgrade GoAnywhere MFT to version 7.10.0 or later immediately
• Upgrade GoAnywhere Agents to version 2.2.0 or later on all endpoints
• Audit administrative account access and review recent admin activities
• Rotate any credentials or sensitive data that may have been encrypted with the vulnerable implementation

Patch Information

Fortra has released security updates that address this vulnerability. GoAnywhere MFT version 7.10.0 and GoAnywhere Agents version 2.2.0 implement proper random IV generation for encryption operations. Organizations should obtain the updated software through their Fortra support channels and follow the vendor's upgrade procedures. Additional details are available in the Fortra Security Advisory FI-2026-001.

Workarounds

• Implement strict access controls limiting the number of administrative accounts
• Enable multi-factor authentication for all administrative access to GoAnywhere MFT
• Monitor and audit all administrative activities until patches can be applied
• Consider network segmentation to limit access to GoAnywhere MFT administrative interfaces

# Configuration example
# Review and restrict admin access in GoAnywhere MFT
# Ensure MFA is enabled for admin accounts
# Example: Audit current admin users via CLI
./goanywhere admin list-users --role=admin
# Review recent admin activity logs
./goanywhere logs --filter="admin" --days=30 > admin_audit.log