Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-22281

F5 Big-Ip Advanced Firewall Manager 13.1.0 – 13.1.5

Published
01 February 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0063 47th percentile
Risk Priority 59 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-22281 is a high-severity Use of Uninitialized Resource (CWE-908) vulnerability in F5 Big-Ip Advanced Firewall Manager. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique OS Credential Dumping (T1003); ranked at the 47th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

On versions 17.0.x before 17.0.0.2, 16.1.x before 16.1.3.3, 15.1.x before 15.1.8, 14.1.x before 14.1.5.3, and all versions of 13.1.x, when a BIG-IP AFM NAT policy with a destination NAT rule is configured on a FastL4 virtual server, undisclosed traffic can…

more

cause the Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM) to terminate. Note: Software versions which have reached End of Technical Support (EoTS) are not evaluated.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1003 OS Credential Dumping Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump credentials to obtain account login and credential material, normally in the form of a hash or a clear text password.
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
T1552 Unsecured Credentials Credential Access
Adversaries may search compromised systems to find and obtain insecurely stored credentials.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-23314Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Firewall Manager
CVE-2025-59478Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Firewall Manager
CVE-2024-21771Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Firewall Manager
CVE-2024-21763Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Firewall Manager
CVE-2025-24312Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Firewall Manager
CVE-2026-60005Same vendor: F5
CVE-2025-59781Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Firewall Manager
CVE-2023-22374Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Firewall Manager
CVE-2023-22422Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Firewall Manager
CVE-2025-36557Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Firewall Manager

Affected Assets

f5
big-ip advanced firewall manager
13.1.0 — 13.1.5 · 14.1.0 — 14.1.5.3 · 15.1.0 — 15.1.8

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC activities such as static analysis and code review directly prevent use of uninitialized resources while also addressing many other weaknesses.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

Security testing in development and acceptance can detect uninitialized resource usage through dynamic analysis and fuzzing.

prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates initialization checks and static analysis that can catch uninitialized resource use.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify mandatory initialization of variables and resources before use.

prevents

Secure system architecture and engineering principles include defensive coding practices that prevent use of uninitialized memory or objects.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly require explicit initialization of all variables and resources, substantially mitigating CWE-908.

References