Rewterz Threat Alert – CVE-2021-22986 – Active Exploitation of F5 BIG-IP Flaw

Severity

High

Analysis Summary

Attackers are exploiting a recently-patched, critical vulnerability in F5 devices that have not yet been updated. Previously identified as unauthenticated remote command execution flaw (CVE-2021-22986) which exists in F5BIG-IP and BIG-IQ enterprise networking infrastructure, and could allow attackers to take full control over a vulnerable system.

Researchers have said that the last 24 hours have been critically observed and they have observed multiple exploitation attempts against their honeypot infrastructure. “NCC researchers said”. For this latest rash of exploit attempts, anyone running an affected version of BIG-IP should prioritize upgrade.

CVE-2021-22986 

F5 BIG-IP could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the system, caused by an error in the iControl REST interface. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability using the control plane to execute arbitrary system commands, create or delete files, and disable services.

Impact

• Denial of service 
• Command execution 
• Arbitrary code execution

Affected Vendors

F5

Affected Products

• F5 BIG-IP
• F5 BIG-IQ

Remediation

Users are advised to update to the latest version to avoid exploitation. 

https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K02566623

Link to the published advisory.