CVE intelligence and bounded remediation
CVE-2021-23014 — F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall security vulnerability
On versions 16.0.x before 16.0.1.1, 15.1.x before 15.1.3, and 14.1.x before 14.1.4, BIG-IP Advanced WAF and ASM are missing authorization checks for file uploads to a specific directory within the REST API which might allow Authenticated users with guest privileges to upload files. Note: Software versions which have reached End of Technical Support (EoTS) are not evaluated.
- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 8.8 (3.1)
- Published
- 2021-05-10
- CISA KEV
- Not currently listed
- Ecosystem
- software/application
- Weaknesses
- CWE-862
Affected products
- f5 / big-ip_advanced_web_application_firewall
- f5 / big-ip_application_security_manager
Showing 2 representative product identities from 6 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.
Matched remediation archetype
Authorization bypass, IDOR, and cross-tenant access
This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.
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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