dbcve.org
Big Iq Centralized ManagementApplication · F5

CVE-2020-5860

HIGH · 8.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-03-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 15.1.0 or later.
See remediation →
90/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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 15.0.0-15.1.0.2, 14.1.0-14.1.2.3, 13.1.0-13.1.3.2, 12.1.0-12.1.5.1, and 11.5.2-11.6.5.1 and BIG-IQ 7.0.0, 6.0.0-6.1.0, and 5.2.0-5.4.0, in a High Availability (HA) network failover in Device Service Cluster (DSC), the failover service does not require a strong form of authentication and HA network failover traffic is not encrypted by Transport Layer Security (TLS).

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

In F5 BIG-IP and BIG-IQ Device Service Clusters, the HA failover service lacks strong authentication and transmits failover traffic in cleartext without TLS encryption. This allows potential attackers to intercept or manipulate high-availability failover communications between clustered devices.

MitigationUpgrade BIG-IP to 15.1.0.3+ (or 14.1.2.4+, 13.1.3.3+, 12.1.5.2+, 11.6.5.2+) and BIG-IQ to 7.1.0+ to obtain patched versions with proper authentication and TLS-encrypted HA traffic.

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 Iq Centralized ManagementApplication
Affected:>= 5.2.0, <= 5.4.0>= 6.0.0, <= 6.1.0= 7.0.0
Big Ip Access Policy ManagerApplication
Affected:>= 11.5.2, <= 11.6.5>= 12.1.0, <= 12.1.5>= 13.1.0, <= 13.1.3>= 14.1.0, <= 14.1.2>= 15.0.0, <= 15.1.0
Big Ip Advanced Firewall ManagerApplication
Affected:>= 11.5.2, <= 11.6.5>= 12.1.0, <= 12.1.5>= 13.1.0, <= 13.1.3>= 14.1.0, <= 14.1.2>= 15.0.0, <= 15.1.0
Big Ip AnalyticsApplication
Affected:>= 11.5.2, <= 11.6.5>= 12.1.0, <= 12.1.5>= 13.1.0, <= 13.1.3>= 14.1.0, <= 14.1.2>= 15.0.0, <= 15.1.0
Big Ip Application Acceleration ManagerApplication
Affected:>= 11.5.2, <= 11.6.5>= 12.1.0, <= 12.1.5>= 13.1.0, <= 13.1.3>= 14.1.0, <= 14.1.2>= 15.0.0, <= 15.1.0
Big Ip Application Security ManagerApplication
Affected:>= 11.5.2, <= 11.6.5>= 12.1.0, <= 12.1.5>= 13.1.0, <= 13.1.3>= 14.1.0, <= 14.1.2>= 15.0.0, <= 15.1.0
Big Ip Domain Name SystemApplication
Affected:>= 11.5.2, <= 11.6.5>= 12.1.0, <= 12.1.5>= 13.1.0, <= 13.1.3>= 14.1.0, <= 14.1.2>= 15.0.0, <= 15.1.0
Big Ip Fraud Protection ServiceApplication
Affected:>= 11.5.2, <= 11.6.5>= 12.1.0, <= 12.1.5>= 13.1.0, <= 13.1.3>= 14.1.0, <= 14.1.2>= 15.0.0, <= 15.1.0

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
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed BIG-IP or BIG-IQ version
    Run 'tmsh show /sys version' or access the web UI under System > Software > Image List to view the installed version
    Affected if The version falls within any of these ranges: BIG-IP 11.5.2-11.6.5, 12.1.0-12.1.5, 13.1.0-13.1.3, 14.1.0-14.1.2, 15.0.0-15.1.0; or BIG-IQ 5.2.0-5.4.0, 6.0.0-6.1.0, 7.0.0
  2. Confirm device is part of a High Availability cluster
    Run 'tmsh show /cm device-group' or check the web UI under Device Management > Device Groups to list active device groups
    Affected if The device belongs to a device group with more than one member, indicating HA clustering is configured
  3. Check HA failover communication settings
    Run 'tmsh list /cm failover' or view the failover configuration under Device Management > Failover Unicast settings in the web UI
    Affected if The failover configuration shows no TLS encryption enabled or uses a non-encrypted transport for HA heartbeat traffic
  4. Verify failover authentication configuration
    Inspect the HA peer configuration by running 'tmsh show /cm' and check if the failover interface uses certificate-based authentication
    Affected if The failover interface is configured without strong certificate authentication between clustered devices

A device is affected if it runs a version within the affected ranges AND is configured as part of an HA cluster with unencrypted failover communication.

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 15.1.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade BIG-IP to 15.1.0.3+ (or 14.1.2.4+, 13.1.3.3+, 12.1.5.2+, 11.6.5.2+) and BIG-IQ to 7.1.0+ to obtain patched versions with proper authentication and TLS-encrypted HA traffic.

Fix this in Big Iq Centralized Management Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-5860 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2020-5860 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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