CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2018-5520 — F5 Big-Ip Local Traffic Manager security vulnerability

Medium CVSS 4.4

On an F5 BIG-IP 13.0.0-13.1.0.5, 12.1.0-12.1.3.1, or 11.2.1-11.6.3.1 system configured in Appliance mode, the TMOS Shell (tmsh) may allow an administrative user to use the dig utility to gain unauthorized access to file system resources.

Severity
Medium
CVSS
4.4 (3.0)
Published
2018-05-02
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-863

Affected products

  • f5 / big-ip_local_traffic_manager
  • f5 / big-ip_application_acceleration_manager
  • f5 / big-ip_advanced_firewall_manager
  • f5 / big-ip_analytics

Showing 4 representative product identities from 39 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Authorization bypass, IDOR, and cross-tenant access

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Check exposure

  • Map object and action authorization checks across API, UI, batch, import/export, and background-job paths.
  • Identify tenant, ownership, role, and policy boundaries for affected resources and administrative operations.
  • Use synthetic fixtures to compare intended access matrices without accessing another user's real data.

Remediate safely

  • Enforce server-side authorization at each resource access and state transition using the authenticated principal and trusted tenant context.
  • Scope data queries by tenant and ownership; treat client-supplied identifiers, roles, and policy claims as untrusted.
  • Add deny-by-default policy tests for horizontal and vertical access across every affected transport.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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