Big Ip ControllerApplication · F5
CVE-2018-5543
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 · uneditedThe F5 BIG-IP Controller for Kubernetes 1.0.0-1.5.0 (k8s-bigip-crtl) passes BIG-IP username and password as command line parameters, which may lead to disclosure of the credentials used by the container.
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 confidenceThe F5 BIG-IP Controller for Kubernetes (k8s-bigip-crtl) versions 1.0.0-1.5.0 passes BIG-IP username and password as command-line arguments to the container's entrypoint process. These credentials are exposed in the process command line, making them visible through process inspection (ps), container logs, Docker/Kubernetes audit logs, and other mechanisms that expose process arguments.
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 ControllerApplication
>= 1.0.0, <= 1.5.0CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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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Identify F5 BIG-IP Controller deploymentRun 'kubectl get deployments -A | grep -i bigip' or 'kubectl get pods -A | grep -i bigip' to locate the controller podsAffected if No F5 BIG-IP Controller is found in the cluster - not affected
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Check installed controller versionRun 'kubectl get deployment -n <namespace> <deployment-name> -o jsonpath={.spec.template.spec.containers[0].image}' to get the image, then compare version to 1.0.0-1.5.0 rangeAffected if Version falls within 1.0.0 through 1.5.0 - potentially affected
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Inspect running process command lineRun 'kubectl exec -n <namespace> <pod-name> -- ps auxww' to view the running process argumentsAffected if Username or password appears in the process command line - definitely affected
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Examine Kubernetes pod specificationsRun 'kubectl get deployment -n <namespace> <deployment-name> -o yaml' and inspect the args/command field under container specAffected if Command-line arguments contain --bigip-password or --bigip-username - definitely affected
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Review container runtime logsCheck Docker container logs via 'docker logs <container-id>' or Kubernetes pod logs via 'kubectl logs -n <namespace> <pod-name>' for exposed credentialsAffected if Credentials appear in any log output - definitely affected
The environment is affected if the deployed F5 BIG-IP Controller version is between 1.0.0 and 1.5.0 AND credentials are visible in process arguments, pod specs, or logs.
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 dataReplace command-line credential parameters with environment variables or Kubernetes secrets, then redeploy the controller and verify credentials are no longer visible in process arguments.
Fix this in Big Ip Controller
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,744.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-5543 — 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-2018-5543 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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