CVE-2021-22986

F5 BIG-IP and BIG-IQ Centralized Management: iControl REST Remote Code Execution

As of , CVE-2021-22986 in F5 BIG-IP and BIG-IQ Centralized Management is on CISA's list of exploited vulnerabilities: CISA listed it on . Our patch-first group: Patch this week.

Exploited
Yes: CISA listed it on 3 November 2021
US federal deadline
17 November 202114 days after CISA listed it. US federal civilian agencies must fix it by then.
Used in ransomware campaigns
Known
EPSS score
0.99Higher than 99% of the CVEs EPSS scores. EPSS estimates the chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days.
EPSS when listed
Not availableCISA listed it before 4 February 2022, where the EPSS files we read begin.
Public exploit
1 Metasploit module and 1 Exploit-DB entry
Fix
No vendor link in CISA's entry

What CISA says to do

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

CISA's required action

What the flaw is

F5 BIG-IP and BIG-IQ Centralized Management contain a remote code execution vulnerability in the iControl REST interface that allows unauthenticated attackers with network access to execute system commands, create or delete files, and disable services.

CISA's description

On BIG-IP versions 16.0.x before 16.0.1.1, 15.1.x before 15.1.2.1, 14.1.x before 14.1.4, 13.1.x before 13.1.3.6, and 12.1.x before 12.1.5.3 amd BIG-IQ 7.1.0.x before 7.1.0.3 and 7.0.0.x before 7.0.0.2, the iControl REST interface has an unauthenticated remote command execution vulnerability. Note: Software versions which have reached End of Software Development (EoSD) are not evaluated.

The CVE record's description, from f5

CVE published
31 March 2021
Assigned by
f5
CVSS
9.8 Critical (CVSS 3.1, from CISA-ADP)
CWE-918
Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
CWE-863
Incorrect Authorization
CISA SSVC, exploitation
active
CISA SSVC, automatable
yes
CISA SSVC, technical impact
total

Timeline

  1. The CVE record was published.
  2. Exploit-DB published an exploit (EDB-ID 49738).
  3. CISA added it to its list of exploited vulnerabilities.
  4. The US federal deadline to fix it.

Public exploits

Facts from Metasploit's module list and Exploit-DB's index; we never copy exploit code.

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