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Big Ip Access Policy ManagerApplication · F5

CVE-2018-5527

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-06-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 13.1.0.7 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 BIG-IP 13.1.0-13.1.0.7, a remote attacker using undisclosed methods against virtual servers configured with a Client SSL or Server SSL profile that has the SSL Forward Proxy feature enabled can force the Traffic Management Microkernel (tmm) to leak memory. As a result, system memory usage increases over time, which may eventually cause a decrease in performance or a system reboot due to memory exhaustion.

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 BIG-IP 13.1.0-13.1.0.7, a remote attacker can exploit virtual servers configured with Client SSL or Server SSL profiles that have SSL Forward Proxy enabled, causing the Traffic Management Microkernel (tmm) to leak memory. This memory leak accumulates over time and can eventually cause performance degradation or system reboot due to memory exhaustion.

MitigationDisable the SSL Forward Proxy feature on affected SSL profiles, or upgrade BIG-IP to a version beyond 13.1.0.7 that contains the security fix.

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 Access Policy ManagerApplication
Affected:>= 13.0.0, <= 13.1.0.7
Big Ip Advanced Firewall ManagerApplication
Affected:>= 13.0.0, <= 13.1.0.7
Big Ip AnalyticsApplication
Affected:>= 13.0.0, <= 13.1.0.7
Big Ip Application Acceleration ManagerApplication
Affected:>= 13.0.0, <= 13.1.0.7
Big Ip Application Security ManagerApplication
Affected:>= 13.0.0, <= 13.1.0.7
Big Ip Domain Name SystemApplication
Affected:>= 13.0.0, <= 13.1.0.7
Big Ip Edge GatewayWeb browser
Affected:>= 13.0.0, <= 13.1.0.7
Big Ip Global Traffic ManagerApplication
Affected:>= 13.0.0, <= 13.1.0.7

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 view the web UI footer to confirm the installed version
    Affected if Version is 13.1.0 through 13.1.0.7 inclusive
  2. Identify SSL profiles with SSL Forward Proxy enabled
    Run 'tmsh list ltm profile client-ssl one-line' and 'tmsh list ltm profile server-ssl one-line' and look for 'ssl-forward-proxy enabled' in the output
    Affected if Any Client SSL or Server SSL profile has 'ssl-forward-proxy enabled' set to 'yes'
  3. Check virtual servers using affected SSL profiles
    Run 'tmsh list ltm virtual one-line' and cross-reference with the SSL profiles identified in the previous step
    Affected if Any virtual server references a Client SSL or Server SSL profile that has SSL Forward Proxy enabled

User is affected if running BIG-IP 13.1.0-13.1.0.7 with any virtual server using an SSL profile that has SSL Forward Proxy enabled, as this creates the memory leak condition.

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 13.1.0.7
Interim mitigation

Disable the SSL Forward Proxy feature on affected SSL profiles, or upgrade BIG-IP to a version beyond 13.1.0.7 that contains the security fix.

Fix this in Big Ip Access Policy Manager Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,690
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,304.

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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-2018-5527 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