CVE-2021-22986 vulnerability in F5 Networks Products
Published on March 31, 2021

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.

Vendor Advisory NVD

Known Exploited Vulnerability

This F5 iControl REST unauthenticated Remote Code Execution Vulnerability is part of CISA's list of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities. The iControl REST interface has an unauthenticated remote command execution vulnerability.

The following remediation steps are recommended / required by November 17, 2021: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Vulnerability Analysis

CVE-2021-22986 is exploitable with network access, and does not require authorization privileges or user interaction. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. It has the highest possible exploitability rating (3.9). The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to be critical as this vulnerability has a high impact to the confidentiality, integrity and availability of this component.

What is a XSPA Vulnerability?

The web server receives a URL or similar request from an upstream component and retrieves the contents of this URL, but it does not sufficiently ensure that the request is being sent to the expected destination. By providing URLs to unexpected hosts or ports, attackers can make it appear that the server is sending the request, possibly bypassing access controls such as firewalls that prevent the attackers from accessing the URLs directly. The server can be used as a proxy to conduct port scanning of hosts in internal networks, use other URLs such as that can access documents on the system (using file://), or use other protocols such as gopher:// or tftp://, which may provide greater control over the contents of requests.

CVE-2021-22986 has been classified to as a XSPA vulnerability or weakness.

Products Associated with CVE-2021-22986

You can be notified by stack.watch whenever vulnerabilities like CVE-2021-22986 are published in these products:

F5 Networks Big Ip Access Policy Manager

F5 Networks Big Ip Advanced Firewall Manager

F5 Networks Big Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall

F5 Networks Big Ip Analytics

F5 Networks Big Ip Application Acceleration Manager

F5 Networks Big Ip Application Security Manager

F5 Networks Big Ip Ddos Hybrid Defender

F5 Networks Big Ip Domain Name System

F5 Networks Big Ip Fraud Protection Service

F5 Networks Big Ip Global Traffic Manager

F5 Networks Big Ip Link Controller

F5 Networks Big Ip Local Traffic Manager

F5 Networks Big Ip Policy Enforcement Manager

F5 Networks Big Iq Centralized Management

F5 Networks Ssl Orchestrator

What versions are vulnerable to CVE-2021-22986?