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7.5

F5 BIG‑IP crash can cause service outage

CVE-2018-5509 · published 8 years ago
Summary

Versions 12.1.0 through 13.0.0 of F5 BIG‑IP may stop processing traffic and trigger a failover if a specially configured virtual server receives unexpected non‑TCP traffic. This can temporarily interrupt availability of the applications behind the BIG‑IP device. Apply the latest software update from F5, which adds checks to block the risky configuration, to prevent the crash.

What to do

The CVE record does not list a fixed version. Check the vendor's site or the advisory links below - a fix may already be released.

Affected software
VendorProductAffected versions
f5 big-ip_access_policy_manager >= 12.1.0, < 12.1.3.2
>= 13.0.0, < 13.1.0.4
cpe:2.3:a:f5:big-ip_access_policy_manager:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
f5 big-ip_advanced_firewall_manager >= 12.1.0, < 12.1.3.2
>= 13.0.0, < 13.1.0.4
cpe:2.3:a:f5:big-ip_advanced_firewall_manager:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
f5 big-ip_application_acceleration_manager >= 12.1.0, < 12.1.3.2
>= 13.0.0, < 13.1.0.4
cpe:2.3:a:f5:big-ip_application_acceleration_manager:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
f5 big-ip_application_security_manager >= 12.1.0, < 12.3.1.2
>= 13.0.0, < 13.1.0.4
cpe:2.3:a:f5:big-ip_application_security_manager:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
f5 big-ip_link_controller >= 12.1.0, < 12.1.3.2
>= 13.0.0, < 13.1.0.4
cpe:2.3:a:f5:big-ip_link_controller:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
f5 big-ip_local_traffic_manager >= 12.1.0, < 12.1.3.2
>= 13.0.0, < 13.1.0.4
cpe:2.3:a:f5:big-ip_local_traffic_manager:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
f5 big-ip_policy_enforcement_manager >= 12.1.0, < 12.1.3.2
>= 13.0.0, < 13.1.0.4
cpe:2.3:a:f5:big-ip_policy_enforcement_manager:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
f5 big-ip_websafe 1.0.0
cpe:2.3:a:f5:big-ip_websafe:1.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Original advisory text
On F5 BIG-IP versions 13.0.0 or 12.1.0 - 12.1.3.1, when a specifically configured virtual server receives traffic of an undisclosed nature, TMM will crash and take the configured failover action, p...
On F5 BIG-IP versions 13.0.0 or 12.1.0 - 12.1.3.1, when a specifically configured virtual server receives traffic of an undisclosed nature, TMM will crash and take the configured failover action, potentially causing a denial of service. The configuration which exposes this issue is not common and in general does not work when enabled in previous versions of BIG-IP. Starting in 12.1.0, BIG-IP will crash if the configuration which exposes this issue is enabled and the virtual server receives non TCP traffic. With the fix of this issue, additional configuration validation logic has been added to prevent this configuration from being applied to a virtual server. There is only data plane exposure to this issue with a non-standard configuration. There is no control plane exposure.
References
Fix within
Internet-facing 14 days
Internal 60 days
  • Not known to be exploited
  • Can be exploited automatically (estimated)
  • Gives an attacker partial control (estimated)
Severity
7.5 High
Exploitation
3% chance of attack within 30 days
Type
CWE-20Improper Input Validation
Timeline
Published22 Mar 2018
Updated30 Oct 2026
First seen29 Sep 2026
Sources
CVE-2018-5509 · NVD
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