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Big Ip Access Policy ManagerApplication · F5

CVE-2026-42930

HIGH · 8.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-05-13
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 17.5.1 or later.
See remediation →
93/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable 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' role may be able to bypass Appliance mode restrictions on a BIG-IP 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 BIG-IP systems running in Appliance mode, an authenticated attacker with the Administrator role can bypass Appliance mode restrictions. Appliance mode enforces restricted operational constraints for compliance, and this vulnerability allows a privileged admin to escape those security boundaries.

MitigationApply F5-provided patches when available; limit Administrator role assignments to trusted personnel only; audit administrative user activities on affected BIG-IP systems.

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
Affected:= 21.0.0>= 17.1.0, <= 17.1.3>= 17.5.0, <= 17.5.1>= 16.1.0, <= 16.1.6
Big Ip Advanced Firewall ManagerApplication
Affected:= 21.0.0>= 17.1.0, <= 17.1.3>= 17.5.0, <= 17.5.1>= 16.1.0, <= 16.1.6
Big Ip Advanced Web Application FirewallApplication
Affected:= 21.0.0>= 17.1.0, <= 17.1.3>= 17.5.0, <= 17.5.1>= 16.1.0, <= 16.1.6
Big Ip AnalyticsApplication
Affected:= 21.0.0>= 17.1.0, <= 17.1.3>= 17.5.0, <= 17.5.1>= 16.1.0, <= 16.1.6
Big Ip Application Acceleration ManagerApplication
Affected:= 21.0.0>= 17.1.0, <= 17.1.3>= 17.5.0, <= 17.5.1>= 16.1.0, <= 16.1.6
Big Ip Application Security ManagerApplication
Affected:= 21.0.0>= 17.1.0, <= 17.1.3>= 17.5.0, <= 17.5.1>= 16.1.0, <= 16.1.6
Big Ip Application Visibility And ReportingApplication
Affected:= 21.0.0>= 17.1.0, <= 17.1.3>= 17.5.0, <= 17.5.1>= 16.1.0, <= 16.1.6
Big Ip Automation ToolchainApplication
Affected:= 21.0.0>= 17.1.0, <= 17.1.3>= 17.5.0, <= 17.5.1>= 16.1.0, <= 16.1.6

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
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/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. Check BIG-IP software version
    Run `tmsh show sys version` or `tmsh show /sys version` to display the installed BIG-IP version
    Affected if The displayed version matches 21.0.0, 17.1.0-17.1.3, 17.5.0-17.5.1, or 16.1.0-16.1.6
  2. Verify Appliance mode is enabled
    Run `tmsh show /sys software` or check the system configuration for Appliance mode status. Also check `tmsh show /sys provision` output
    Affected if The system is running in Appliance mode (restricted operational mode)
  3. Confirm Administrator role accounts exist
    Run `tmsh list /auth user` to list all configured users, then check for users with role set to Administrator using `tmsh list /auth user <username> role`
    Affected if Any user account has the Administrator role assigned

The environment is affected if the BIG-IP version is within the vulnerable ranges AND Appliance mode is enabled AND at least one Administrator role account exists on the system.

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 17.5.1
Interim mitigation

Apply F5-provided patches when available; limit Administrator role assignments to trusted personnel only; audit administrative user activities on affected BIG-IP systems.

Fix this in Big Ip Access Policy Manager Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.

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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-2026-42930 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data