SummaryIn this paper, we use fuzzy Petri nets (FPNs) to propose a secure routing protocol in mobile ad hoc network. The proposed method is based on secure ad hoc on‐demand distance vector (SAODV), which is named FPN‐SAODV. In FPN‐SAODV routing protocol, for each packet delivery or firing each transition, a type of bidirectional node‐to‐node fuzzy security verification is conducted that can be carried out with five security threshold levels. This inference uses four fuzzy variables that have been selected to well represent the malicious behaviors of some public attacks in mobile ad hoc network. Furthermore, a through route security verification has been used for selecting the most secure route among each candidate path through source node to destination. Both of these verifications utilize FPN inherent features for their operation. For evaluation purpose, we used the metrics such as packet delivery ratio, end‐to‐end delay, average security level of the nodes, and percentage of true/false detector nodes. These metrics have been used for investigating the inner operation of FPN‐SAODV as determining the proper level of security threshold level in node‐to‐node security verification module. Also, these are used for comparison of FPN‐SAODV performance versus the original AODV. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.