Fortigate(FortiOS) Hash

What is Fortigate(FortiOS)?

The FortiGate/FortiOS cryptographic hash format is a proprietary implementation of password hashing introduced by Fortinet’s FortiGate and FortiOS platforms, primarily used to secure user authentication credentials stored in the device’s configuration database. Originating as an internal optimization for resource-constrained network security appliances, this scheme combines elements of MD5 with a custom salted iteration mechanism, though its exact derivation remains undisclosed. The format typically encodes passwords as a 32-character hexadecimal string prefixed with a version identifier (e.g., `FORTIGATE$`), followed by a salted hash derived from the original credential. While designed to resist trivial offline attacks, its structure relies on a fixed iteration count (often low by modern standards) and lacks standard cryptographic protections like key stretching or adaptive work factors, making it vulnerable to targeted brute-force efforts. The primary use-case remains legacy authentication in Fortinet’s legacy appliances, where performance and compatibility outweigh security concerns.

The FortiGate/FortiOS hash format is fundamentally vulnerable due to its reliance on a predictable iteration count and the absence of a dynamic salt or pepper, enabling attackers to leverage GPU-accelerated cracking tools like Hashcat or John the Ripper with optimized kernels. The fixed iteration count (often as low as 1,000 iterations) allows modern hardware to brute-force hashes at rates exceeding 10,000 hashes per second, while the lack of salting or collision resistance means precomputed rainbow tables can be generated offline. Additionally, the MD5-based core algorithm is susceptible to collision attacks, and the proprietary format’s closed nature prevents community-driven security audits or post-quantum upgrades. Optimizations like CUDA or OpenCL further exacerbate the risk, as attackers can parallelize decryption across thousands of cores, rendering the scheme unsuitable for modern security standards.

Identifying Fortigate(FortiOS) Hashes

Identifying a hash blindly is often difficult because multiple algorithms can output strings of the exact same length. For example, a standard 32-character hexadecimal string could be MD5, NTLM, MD4, or LM. To definitively identify Fortigate(FortiOS), security researchers analyze the hash against a strict regular expression (regex) signature (shown above) to find structural matches.

How to Crack Fortigate(FortiOS)

If you need to recover the plaintext password for a Fortigate(FortiOS) hash during a penetration test or forensics investigation, you must supply the correct module ID to your cracking software. Use the exact commands provided at the top of this page to target the hash successfully.