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Big Ip Advanced Firewall ManagerApplication · F5

CVE-2022-23018

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-01-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 13.1.4.1 / 14.1.4.5 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 AFM version 16.1.x before 16.1.2, 15.1.x before 15.1.4.1, 14.1.x before 14.1.4.5, and 13.1.x beginning in 13.1.3.4, when a virtual server is configured with both HTTP protocol security and HTTP Proxy Connect profiles, undisclosed requests can cause the Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM) to terminate. Note: Software versions which have reached End of Technical Support (EoTS) are not evaluated.

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 AFM, a vulnerability exists where virtual servers configured with both HTTP protocol security and HTTP Proxy Connect profiles can be triggered by specific requests to cause the Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM) to terminate, resulting in denial of service.

MitigationApply the vendor patches (16.1.2, 15.1.4.1, 14.1.4.5 or later) or temporarily remove one of the conflicting profiles (HTTP protocol security or HTTP Proxy Connect) from affected virtual servers until patching is feasible.

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
Affected:>= 13.1.3.4, < 13.1.4.1>= 14.1.0, < 14.1.4.5>= 15.1.0, < 15.1.4.1>= 16.1.0, < 16.1.2

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:3.1/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 checks

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

  1. Verify BIG-IP AFM is installed
    Run 'tmsh show sys module' or check the UI under System > Software Management > BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager to confirm the AFM module is provisioned
    Affected if AFM module is not installed or not provisioned - the vulnerability only affects systems with AFM enabled
  2. Check BIG-IP version against affected ranges
    Run 'tmsh show sys version' or check the UI under Dashboard to view the installed version
    Affected if Version matches any of these ranges: 13.1.3.4-13.1.4.0, 14.1.0-14.1.4.4, 15.1.0-15.1.4.0, 16.1.0-16.1.1 - versions outside these ranges are not affected
  3. Identify virtual servers with HTTP protocol security profile
    Run 'tmsh list ltm virtual one-line' and look for 'profile http' entries that include protocol security, or inspect each virtual server in the UI under Local Traffic > Virtual Servers and check the Security > Polices section for HTTP protocol security profile
    Affected if No virtual servers have HTTP protocol security profile enabled - the attack requires this profile to be present
  4. Identify virtual servers with HTTP Proxy Connect profile
    Run 'tmsh list ltm virtual one-line' and look for 'profile connect' entries, or inspect each virtual server in the UI under Local Traffic > Virtual Servers and check the HTTP Profile settings for HTTP Proxy Connect
    Affected if No virtual servers have HTTP Proxy Connect profile enabled - the attack requires this profile to be present
  5. Confirm virtual servers with BOTH profiles applied
    For each virtual server identified in steps 3 and 4, verify if the same virtual server has both an HTTP protocol security profile AND an HTTP Proxy Connect profile configured simultaneously
    Affected if Any virtual server has BOTH profiles applied at the same time - this is the specific configuration that triggers the vulnerability

A system is affected only if it runs a vulnerable BIG-IP AFM version AND has at least one virtual server configured with both an HTTP protocol security profile and an HTTP Proxy Connect profile simultaneously.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 13.1.4.1 / 14.1.4.5 / 15.1.4.1 or later
Fixed in 13.1.4.114.1.4.515.1.4.1
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor patches (16.1.2, 15.1.4.1, 14.1.4.5 or later) or temporarily remove one of the conflicting profiles (HTTP protocol security or HTTP Proxy Connect) from affected virtual servers until patching is feasible.

Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to 13.1.4.1+ (for 13.1.x), 14.1.4.5+ (for 14.1.x), 15.1.4.1+ (for 15.1.x), or 16.1.2+ (for 16.1.x)

  1. Identify the currently installed BIG-IP AFM version using 'tmsh show sys version' or the web management console.
  2. Determine which version branch (13.1.x, 14.1.x, 15.1.x, or 16.1.x) your current installation uses.
  3. Review the configuration of affected virtual servers to identify any that have both HTTP protocol security and HTTP Proxy Connect profiles enabled.
  4. Download the appropriate fixed version from F5 Networks: 13.1.4.1 or later, 14.1.4.5 or later, 15.1.4.1 or later, or 16.1.2 or later.
  5. Follow F5's upgrade documentation to apply the update, ensuring to backup configuration before proceeding.
  6. After upgrade, verify the virtual server configurations and test that TMM no longer terminates on the previously affected requests.
Caveat F5 BIG-IP upgrades may require downtime and should be tested in a staging environment; review F5 release notes for version-specific notes

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Big Ip Advanced Firewall Manager 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
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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-2022-23018 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data