Big Ip Advanced Firewall ManagerApplication · F5
CVE-2019-6672
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 AFM 15.0.0-15.0.1, 14.0.0-14.1.2, and 13.1.0-13.1.3.1, when bad-actor detection is configured on a wildcard virtual server on platforms with hardware-based sPVA, the performance of the BIG-IP AFM system is degraded.
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 · moderate confidenceOn BIG-IP AFM versions 15.0.0-15.0.1, 14.0.0-14.1.2, and 13.1.0-13.1.3.1, a performance degradation issue occurs when bad-actor detection is configured on a wildcard virtual server running on platforms with hardware-based sPVA (service provider visible architecture). This effectively causes a denial-of-service condition through resource exhaustion.
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 Advanced Firewall ManagerApplication
>= 13.1.0, <= 13.1.3.1>= 14.0.0, <= 14.1.2>= 15.0.0, <= 15.0.1CVSS 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:3.1/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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Confirm BIG-IP AFM module is provisionedLog into the BIG-IP Configuration Utility or use tmsh to verify that the Advanced Firewall Manager (AFM) module is provisioned and active.Affected if AFM module is not provisioned, the system is not affected by this specific vulnerability.
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Check the installed BIG-IP versionRun 'tmsh show /sys version' or view the version in the BIG-IP Configuration Utility under System > Software Management > Images. Compare the version to the affected ranges: 13.1.0-13.1.3.1, 14.0.0-14.1.2, or 15.0.0-15.0.1.Affected if The installed version falls within any of the affected ranges (13.1.0-13.1.3.1, 14.0.0-14.1.2, or 15.0.0-15.0.1).
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Verify if bad-actor detection is configuredNavigate to Security > Network Firewall > Bad Actor Detection in the Configuration Utility, or use tmsh to list firewall bad-actor configuration. Check if any bad-actor detection policies or profiles are actively configured.Affected if Bad-actor detection policies or profiles are actively applied in the configuration.
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Identify wildcard virtual serversList all virtual servers and check for any with a destination address of 0.0.0.0/0 (IPv4) or ::/0 (IPv6), or verify in the virtual server properties that 'Wildcard' is selected as the type.Affected if Wildcard virtual servers exist in the configuration.
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Confirm hardware-based sPVA platformCheck the system hardware information via 'tmsh show /sys hardware' or in the Configuration Utility under Device Overview. Look for hardware-based sPVA (service provider visible architecture) indicators in the platform specifications.Affected if The platform uses hardware-based sPVA architecture.
A system is affected only if it runs a vulnerable BIG-IP AFM version within the affected ranges, has bad-actor detection configured, contains wildcard virtual servers, and runs on hardware-based sPVA hardware.
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 AFM to a version beyond the affected releases (15.0.2+, 14.1.3+, 13.1.4+) where the performance issue is resolved, or avoid using bad-actor detection on wildcard virtual servers on hardware-based sPVA platforms until patching is feasible.
Fix this in Big Ip Advanced Firewall Manager
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,600.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-6672 — 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-2019-6672 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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