Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Vulnerabilities

Vulnerability Exposes F5 BIG-IP Systems to Remote DoS Attacks

A vulnerability discovered by a researcher in a BIG-IP product from F5 Networks can be exploited to launch remote denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.

A vulnerability discovered by a researcher in a BIG-IP product from F5 Networks can be exploited to launch remote denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.

The security flaw was discovered by Nikita Abramov, a researcher at cybersecurity solutions provider Positive Technologies, and it impacts certain versions of BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM), a secure access solution that simplifies and centralizes access to applications, APIs and data.

According to F5 Networks, the vulnerability is related to a component named Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM), which processes all load-balanced traffic on BIG-IP systems.

“When a BIG-IP APM virtual server processes traffic of an undisclosed nature, the Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM) stops responding and restarts,” the vendor explained in an advisory published in mid-December. “Traffic processing is disrupted while TMM restarts. If the affected BIG-IP system is configured as part of a device group, the system triggers a failover to the peer device.”

Abramov noted that exploiting this vulnerability does not require any tools — the attacker simply has to send a specially crafted HTTP request to the server hosting the BIG-IP configuration utility, which results in access to the system being blocked “for a while (until it automatically restarts).”

F5 said in its advisory that the vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2020-27716 with a severity rating of high, only impacts versions 14.x and 15.x. Updates that patch the flaw in both branches are available.

Last year, Positive Technologies informed F5 of a critical BIG-IP vulnerability that ended up being exploited in the wild, including by profit-driven cybercriminals and state-sponsored cyberspies.

Related: Iranian Hackers Target Critical Vulnerability in F5’s BIG-IP

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Related: CISA Says Hackers Exploited BIG-IP Vulnerability in Attacks on U.S. Government

Related: Hackers Find Way to Bypass Mitigation for Exploited BIG-IP Vulnerability

Written By

Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a managing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.

Click to comment

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Join the session as we discuss the challenges and best practices for cybersecurity leaders managing cloud identities.

Register

SecurityWeek’s Ransomware Resilience and Recovery Summit helps businesses to plan, prepare, and recover from a ransomware incident.

Register

Expert Insights

Related Content

Vulnerabilities

Less than a week after announcing that it would suspended service indefinitely due to a conflict with an (at the time) unnamed security researcher...

Data Breaches

OpenAI has confirmed a ChatGPT data breach on the same day a security firm reported seeing the use of a component affected by an...

IoT Security

A group of seven security researchers have discovered numerous vulnerabilities in vehicles from 16 car makers, including bugs that allowed them to control car...

Vulnerabilities

A researcher at IOActive discovered that home security systems from SimpliSafe are plagued by a vulnerability that allows tech savvy burglars to remotely disable...

Risk Management

The supply chain threat is directly linked to attack surface management, but the supply chain must be known and understood before it can be...

Cybercrime

Patch Tuesday: Microsoft calls attention to a series of zero-day remote code execution attacks hitting its Office productivity suite.

Vulnerabilities

Patch Tuesday: Microsoft warns vulnerability (CVE-2023-23397) could lead to exploitation before an email is viewed in the Preview Pane.

Vulnerabilities

The latest Chrome update brings patches for eight vulnerabilities, including seven reported by external researchers.