dbcve.org
F5os AOperating system · F5

CVE-2025-43878

MEDIUM · 6.0 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-05-07
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.8.0 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
When running in Appliance mode, an authenticated attacker assigned the Administrator or Resource Administrator role may be able to bypass Appliance mode restrictions utilizing system diagnostics tcpdump command utility on a F5OS-C/A system.  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 · moderate confidence

In F5OS-C/A systems running in Appliance mode, authenticated users with Administrator or Resource Administrator roles can bypass Appliance mode restrictions by leveraging the system diagnostics tcpdump command utility. This allows privilege escalation beyond the intended Appliance mode security boundaries.

MitigationRestrict or disable the tcpdump command for non-privileged users in Appliance mode, enforce strict role-based access controls, and monitor diagnostic utility usage.

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
F5os AOperating system
Affected:>= 1.5.1, < 1.8.0
F5os COperating system
Affected:>= 1.6.0, <= 1.6.2

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

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 the F5OS product variant
    Determine whether the system is running F5OS-A (Appliance) or F5OS-C (Container) by checking the system inventory, software image name, or running 'show system version' command.
    Affected if The system is F5OS-A or F5OS-C variant.
  2. Check the installed F5OS version
    Run 'show system version' or 'show software' command to retrieve the exact installed version number.
    Affected if The installed version is >= 1.5.1 and < 1.8.0 for F5OS-A, or >= 1.6.0 and <= 1.6.2 for F5OS-C.
  3. Verify Appliance mode is enabled
    Check the system configuration for Appliance mode status using 'show system appliance' or review the running configuration for appliance-mode settings.
    Affected if The system is running in Appliance mode.
  4. Confirm user role assignment
    Review user accounts and their assigned roles using 'show auth user' or similar authentication/authorization command to identify accounts with Administrator or Resource Administrator roles.
    Affected if There exist users with Administrator or Resource Administrator roles in the system.
  5. Check tcpdump utility access policy
    Examine the diagnostic utility permissions or role-based access controls that govern which roles can execute the tcpdump command, typically found in system diagnostics configuration or RBAC settings.
    Affected if Users with Administrator or Resource Administrator roles can execute the tcpdump command in Appliance mode.

A system is affected if it runs F5OS-A version 1.5.1 to < 1.8.0 or F5OS-C version 1.6.0 to 1.6.2, is in Appliance mode, and allows Administrator or Resource Administrator role users to access the tcpdump diagnostic utility.

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 1.8.0 or later
Fixed in 1.8.0
Interim mitigation

Restrict or disable the tcpdump command for non-privileged users in Appliance mode, enforce strict role-based access controls, and monitor diagnostic utility usage.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

F5OS-A: upgrade to 1.8.0 or later; F5OS-C: upgrade to 1.7.0 or later

  1. 1. Identify the current F5OS version by running 'show version' in the F5OS CLI
  2. 2. For F5OS-A (Appliance): Upgrade to version 1.8.0 or later from the F5 downloads portal
  3. 3. For F5OS-C (Cluster): Upgrade to version 1.7.0 or later from the F5 downloads portal
  4. 4. Upload the upgrade image to the system using 'upload image <filename>'
  5. 5. Install the upgrade using 'install image <filename>' command
  6. 6. Verify the installation completed successfully and confirm Appliance mode restrictions are enforced
Caveat Review F5 release notes for any configuration or compatibility changes between current and target versions before upgrading

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

Fix this in F5os A Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,150
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,440.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-43878 — 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-2025-43878 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