Big Ip Local Traffic ManagerApplication · F5

CVE-2018-5517

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-05-02
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 13.1.0.5 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
On F5 BIG-IP 13.1.0-13.1.0.5, malformed TCP packets sent to a self IP address or a FastL4 virtual server may cause an interruption of service. The control plane is not exposed to this issue. This issue impacts the data plane virtual servers and self IPs.

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 confidence

On F5 BIG-IP 13.1.0-13.1.0.5, malformed TCP packets sent to a self IP address or a FastL4 virtual server can cause interruption of the data plane services. The control plane is not affected by this vulnerability.

MitigationUpgrade F5 BIG-IP to a version beyond 13.1.0.5 that contains the security fix, or implement network-level filtering to block malformed TCP packets targeting self IPs and FastL4 virtual servers.

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
Affected:>= 13.1.0, <= 13.1.0.5
Big Ip Application Acceleration ManagerApplication
Affected:>= 13.1.0, <= 13.1.0.5
Big Ip Advanced Firewall ManagerApplication
Affected:>= 13.1.0, <= 13.1.0.5
Big Ip AnalyticsApplication
Affected:>= 13.1.0, <= 13.1.0.5
Big Ip Access Policy ManagerApplication
Affected:>= 13.1.0, <= 13.1.0.5
Big Ip Application Security ManagerApplication
Affected:>= 13.1.0, <= 13.1.0.5
Big Ip Edge GatewayWeb browser
Affected:>= 13.1.0, <= 13.1.0.5
Big Ip Global Traffic ManagerApplication
Affected:>= 13.1.0, <= 13.1.0.5

CVSS 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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check BIG-IP version
    Run 'tmsh show sys version' or check the GUI under Dashboard > System > Software Version to determine the installed BIG-IP version.
    Affected if Installed version is 13.1.0, 13.1.0.1, 13.1.0.2, 13.1.0.3, 13.1.0.4, or 13.1.0.5.
  2. Identify self IP addresses
    Run 'tmsh list net self all' to list all configured self IP addresses on the device.
    Affected if Any self IP address is configured and reachable on the network.
  3. Identify FastL4 virtual servers
    Run 'tmsh list ltm virtual' and check the 'profile' setting for each virtual server. FastL4 virtual servers use the 'fastl4' profile.
    Affected if Any virtual server is configured with a FastL4 profile (such as fastL4, or a custom fastl4-type profile).

The system is affected if the BIG-IP version is between 13.1.0 and 13.1.0.5 inclusive AND either self IP addresses or FastL4 virtual servers are configured and exposed to network traffic.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 13.1.0.5
Interim mitigation

Upgrade F5 BIG-IP to a version beyond 13.1.0.5 that contains the security fix, or implement network-level filtering to block malformed TCP packets targeting self IPs and FastL4 virtual servers.

Fix this in Big Ip Local Traffic Manager Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-5517 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-5517 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data