- WatchGuard fixes critical RCE flaw (CVE‑2025‑14733) in Firebox firewalls, actively exploited in the wild
- CISA added it to KEV; federal agencies must correct or stop use by December 26
- Workarounds include disabling dynamic peer BOVPNs and hardening firewall policies until patches are applied.
WatchGuard has patched a critical severity zero-day vulnerability in its Firebox firewalls and urged all users to apply the patch immediately.
In a new security advisory, the company said that firewalls running Fireware OS 11.x and later, 12.x and later, and 2025.1 up to (and inclusive of) 2025.1.3, contained an out-of-bounds write vulnerability that allowed unauthenticated attackers to remotely execute arbitrary code (RCE). This vulnerability affects both Mobile User VPN with IKEv2 and Branch Office VPN using IKEv2 when configured with a dynamic gateway peer.
The flaw is now identified as CVE-2025-14733 and has received a severity score of 9.3/10 (critical). WatchGuard said it had seen malicious actors “actively attempting to exploit” the vulnerability in the wild, but did not specify which groups were using it or against whom.
CISA adds bug to KEV
Those who cannot apply the patch immediately can work around the issue by disabling dynamic peer BOVPNs, adding new firewall policies, and disabling the default system policies that manage VPN traffic.
At the same time, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) added the RCE flaw to its Catalog of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV), giving all Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) agencies just one week to patch or completely stop using vulnerable Firebox firewalls.
The entry was added on December 19, with the due date being December 26.
A few months ago, WatchGuard fixed a similar RCE bug in its Firebox firewalls, BeepComputer reported. As of October 2025, internet watchdog Shadowserver said there were more than 75,000 exposed cases, with the majority located in North America and Europe. This vulnerability was also added to CISA’s KEV a few weeks later.
WatchGuard Technologies is a global cybersecurity company serving more than 250,000 customers worldwide, including small and medium-sized businesses, MSPs and other organizations.
Via BeepComputer
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