Big Ip Local Traffic ManagerApplication · F5
CVE-2018-5512
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedOn F5 BIG-IP 13.1.0-13.1.0.5, when Large Receive Offload (LRO) and SYN cookies are enabled (default settings), undisclosed traffic patterns may cause TMM to restart.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceOn F5 BIG-IP 13.1.0-13.1.0.5, a denial of service vulnerability exists where specific undisclosed traffic patterns combined with both Large Receive Offload (LRO) and SYN cookies enabled (default settings) can cause the Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM) to restart, resulting in service disruption.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
Big Ip Local Traffic ManagerApplication
>= 13.1.0, <= 13.1.0.5
Big Ip Application Acceleration ManagerApplication
>= 13.1.0, <= 13.1.0.5
Big Ip Advanced Firewall ManagerApplication
>= 13.1.0, <= 13.1.0.5
Big Ip AnalyticsApplication
>= 13.1.0, <= 13.1.0.5
Big Ip Access Policy ManagerApplication
>= 13.1.0, <= 13.1.0.5
Big Ip Application Security ManagerApplication
>= 13.1.0, <= 13.1.0.5
Big Ip Edge GatewayWeb browser
>= 13.1.0, <= 13.1.0.5
Big Ip Global Traffic ManagerApplication
>= 13.1.0, <= 13.1.0.5CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check BIG-IP versionRun 'tmsh show sys version' or 'bigstart status' to determine the installed BIG-IP version. Compare against the affected range 13.1.0 through 13.1.0.5.Affected if The installed version is between 13.1.0 and 13.1.0.5 inclusive.
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Verify Large Receive Offload (LRO) statusRun 'tmsh show sys hardware | grep -i LRO' or check the network interface configuration via 'tmsh list net interface' to determine if LRO is enabled.Affected if LRO is enabled on the system.
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Verify SYN cookies statusRun 'tmsh show ltm profile tcp' to list TCP profiles, then check each profile for SYN cookie settings via 'tmsh list ltm profile tcp <profile_name>' looking for 'syn-cookie enabled' or check global SYN cookie status with 'tmsh show ltm syncookie'Affected if SYN cookies are enabled (this is the default setting).
A system is affected if it runs BIG-IP version 13.1.0 through 13.1.0.5 AND has both LRO and SYN cookies enabled simultaneously.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataDisable either LRO or SYN cookies in the BIG-IP configuration, or upgrade to a patched version beyond 13.1.0.5. SYN cookies are a DDoS protection feature, so carefully evaluate security implications before disabling.
Fix this in Big Ip Local Traffic Manager
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,072.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-5512 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-5512 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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