Big Ip Access Policy ManagerApplication · F5
CVE-2018-5549
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 BIG-IP APM 11.6.0-11.6.3.1, 12.1.0-12.1.3.3, 13.0.0, and 13.1.0-13.1.0.3, APMD may core when processing SAML Assertion or response containing certain elements.
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 BIG-IP APMD (Access Policy Manager daemon) crashes when processing SAML Assertions or Responses containing certain crafted elements. This is a denial of service vulnerability in the SAML parsing logic of the APM module, exploitable remotely without authentication.
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
>= 11.6.0, <= 11.6.3.1>= 12.1.0, <= 12.1.3.3>= 13.1.0, <= 13.1.0.3= 13.0.0CVSS 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
- 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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Verify APM module is installedRun 'tmsh show sys module' or 'tmsh list sys module' and look for 'apm' in the outputAffected if The APM module is not present in the module list - the vulnerability only applies if APM is installed
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Check BIG-IP versionRun 'tmsh show sys version' or 'bigstart status' to obtain the installed version numberAffected if The installed version falls within any of these ranges: 11.6.0-11.6.3.1, 12.1.0-12.1.3.3, 13.0.0, or 13.1.0-13.1.0.3
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Confirm APM is enabled in the licenseRun 'tmsh show sys license' and check the 'Module' section for 'Access Policy Manager' listed as enabledAffected if APM is not licensed/enabled in the system license
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Check if SAML access profile existsRun 'tmsh list apm profile access' or 'tmsh list apm saml' to list configured SAML profiles and policiesAffected if No SAML-related access profiles or SAML configurations exist - the vulnerable code path requires SAML processing to be configured
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Verify APM is actively processing trafficRun 'tmsh show apm statistics' or check /var/log/apm for recent SAML-related access attemptsAffected if APM is not actively processing SAML traffic - the crash only occurs when the crafted SAML is actually parsed
A system is affected if it runs a vulnerable BIG-IP version (11.6.0-11.6.3.1, 12.1.0-12.1.3.3, 13.0.0, or 13.1.0-13.1.0.3) AND has the APM module enabled AND has SAML access profiles configured that process incoming SAML assertions.
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 dataUpgrade BIG-IP APM to a version beyond 13.1.0.3 (or the latest available patched version) to resolve the malformed SAML parsing issue. For temporary mitigation, consider restricting or filtering untrusted SAML traffic at an upstream device until the upgrade can be performed.
Fix this in Big Ip Access Policy Manager
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $7,296.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-5549 — 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-2018-5549 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
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