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Big Ip Application Acceleration ManagerApplication · F5

CVE-2018-5522

MEDIUM · 5.9 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-06-01
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 12.1.2 or later.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 13.0.0, 12.0.0-12.1.2, 11.6.1-11.6.3.1, 11.5.1-11.5.5, or 11.2.1, when processing DIAMETER transactions with carefully crafted attribute-value pairs, TMM may crash.

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

F5 BIG-IP TMM (Traffic Management Module) crashes when processing DIAMETER protocol transactions containing specially crafted attribute-value pairs, leading to denial of service. The vulnerability exists in multiple BIG-IP versions across the 11.x and 12.x branches.

MitigationApply the appropriate F5 hotfix or upgrade to a patched version as specified in the F5 security advisory. If DIAMETER is not required in the environment, consider disabling DIAMETER protocol processing as a compensating control.

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 Application Acceleration ManagerApplication
Affected:>= 11.5.0, <= 11.5.5>= 11.6.0, <= 11.6.3>= 12.0.0, <= 12.1.2= 11.2.1= 13.0.0
Big Ip Local Traffic ManagerApplication
Affected:>= 11.5.0, <= 11.5.5>= 11.6.0, <= 11.6.3>= 12.0.0, <= 12.1.2= 11.2.1= 13.0.0
Big Ip Advanced Firewall ManagerApplication
Affected:>= 11.5.0, <= 11.5.5>= 11.6.0, <= 11.6.3>= 12.0.0, <= 12.1.2= 11.2.1= 13.0.0
Big Ip AnalyticsApplication
Affected:>= 11.5.0, <= 11.5.5>= 11.6.0, <= 11.6.3>= 12.0.0, <= 12.1.2= 11.2.1= 13.0.0
Big Ip Access Policy ManagerApplication
Affected:>= 11.5.0, <= 11.5.5>= 11.6.0, <= 11.6.3>= 12.0.0, <= 12.1.2= 11.2.1= 13.0.0
Big Ip Application Security ManagerApplication
Affected:>= 11.5.0, <= 11.5.5>= 11.6.0, <= 11.6.3>= 12.0.0, <= 12.1.2= 11.2.1= 13.0.0
Big Ip Domain Name SystemApplication
Affected:>= 11.5.0, <= 11.5.5>= 11.6.0, <= 11.6.3>= 12.0.0, <= 12.1.2= 11.2.1= 13.0.0
Big Ip Edge GatewayWeb browser
Affected:>= 11.5.0, <= 11.5.5>= 11.6.0, <= 11.6.3>= 12.0.0, <= 12.1.2= 11.2.1= 13.0.0

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
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/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 the BIG-IP version
    Run `tmsh show sys version` or `tmsh list /sys version` to retrieve the installed version. Compare the version number to the affected ranges: 11.2.1; 11.5.0-11.5.5; 11.6.0-11.6.3; 12.0.0-12.1.2; 13.0.0
    Affected if The installed version falls within any of the affected version ranges listed in the CVE advisory
  2. Verify DIAMETER protocol processing is enabled
    Check if DIAMETER profiles or peers are configured on the system by running `tmsh list /ltm diameter` and `tmsh list /net diameter-peer`
    Affected if Any DIAMETER profiles, peers, or routes are present in the configuration, indicating DIAMETER processing is active
  3. Check virtual servers for DIAMETER profiles
    Run `tmsh list /ltm virtual` and inspect each virtual server's profile list to see if a DIAMETER profile is assigned
    Affected if Any virtual server has a DIAMETER-type profile attached, making it reachable by DIAMETER traffic
  4. Inspect DIAMETER peer and route configurations
    Run `tmsh list /net diameter-route` to see if any DIAMETER routes are defined, which indicates active DIAMETER traffic handling
    Affected if DIAMETER routes or peers are configured and enabled

You are affected if your BIG-IP version matches one of the listed vulnerable versions AND DIAMETER protocol processing (profiles, peers, or routes) is enabled on your system.

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 12.1.2
Interim mitigation

Apply the appropriate F5 hotfix or upgrade to a patched version as specified in the F5 security advisory. If DIAMETER is not required in the environment, consider disabling DIAMETER protocol processing as a compensating control.

Fix this in Big Ip Application Acceleration Manager Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,130
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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-2018-5522 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