Security Resilience

CVE-2023-23552

DoS in F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall 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 0.015 74th percentile
Risk Priority 81 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-23552 is a high-severity Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400) vulnerability in F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, ranked in the top 26% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2023-23552 is an uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability (CWE-400) affecting F5 BIG-IP Advanced WAF and BIG-IP ASM when a security policy is attached to a virtual server. The flaw impacts versions 17.0.x prior to 17.0.0.2, 16.1.x prior to 16.1.3.3, 15.1.0 prior to 15.1.8, 14.1.x prior to 14.1.5.3, and all releases in the 13.1.x branch; older releases that have reached end of technical support are outside the scope of the evaluation. Successful exploitation produces an increase in memory utilization that can impair availability.

Unauthenticated remote attackers can trigger the issue by sending specially crafted requests to an affected virtual server. Because the CVSS vector shows network attack vector, low complexity, and no required privileges or user interaction, the requests can originate from anywhere on the network and result in denial-of-service conditions without authentication.

F5 has published mitigation guidance in knowledge article K17542533, which addresses the affected software branches and directs customers to the corresponding fixes or configuration changes. The article also notes that unsupported versions are not evaluated for this vulnerability.

The EPSS score has reached a peak and current value of 0.6334, indicating sustained exploitation interest after disclosure.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

On versions 17.0.x before 17.0.0.2, 16.1.x before 16.1.3.3, 15.1.0 before 15.1.8, 14.1.x before 14.1.5.3, and all versions of 13.1.x, when a BIG-IP Advanced WAF or BIG-IP ASM security policy is configured on a virtual server, undisclosed requests can cause an…

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increase in memory resource utilization. Note: Software versions which have reached End of Technical Support (EoTS) are not evaluated.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-23308Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2026-22548Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2026-40060Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2024-23603Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2024-21789Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2025-54858Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2025-58474Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2025-61938Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2025-61935Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2024-23805Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall

Affected Assets

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

Mitigating Controls

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-400

Limiting concurrent sessions directly prevents uncontrolled resource consumption by capping the number of active sessions per user or account.

addresses: CWE-400

Analysis identifies uncontrolled resource consumption indicative of denial-of-service or abuse attempts.

addresses: CWE-400

Contingency plan testing includes resource exhaustion scenarios to verify recovery, making it harder for attackers to sustain exploits that cause uncontrolled consumption.

addresses: CWE-400

Updated contingency plans include current procedures to detect, contain, and recover from resource exhaustion, limiting an attacker's ability to sustain impact from uncontrolled consumption.

addresses: CWE-400

Alternate site allows resumption of operations if resource exhaustion at the primary site is exploited to cause unavailability.

addresses: CWE-400

Alternate telecommunications services enable resumption of essential functions when primary services become unavailable due to uncontrolled resource consumption.

addresses: CWE-400

The team can analyze and respond to resource exhaustion incidents, reducing the impact of attacks that exploit uncontrolled consumption weaknesses.

addresses: CWE-400

Timely maintenance support and spare parts enable rapid recovery from failures induced by uncontrolled resource consumption, shortening the impact window of denial-of-service attacks.

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

Pre-agreed severity-based prioritization and resource allocation during incident triage reduce the likelihood that an attacker-induced resource exhaustion will overwhelm the organization before corrective action is taken.

finds

Early notification of anomalous resource consumption or system malfunctions enables throttling or isolation before availability is lost.

A.8.15 Logging partial match
finds

Specifying log storage limits and rotation procedures reduces the risk that unbounded log growth will exhaust disk or memory resources and cause denial of service.

finds

Resource-utilization monitoring and alerting on bottlenecks or overloads limits the impact of denial-of-service or resource-exhaustion attacks.

blocks

A.8.20 implements network-level protections (firewalls, segmentation, protocol hardening, monitoring, authentication of systems/devices) that can limit abuse of a resource-consuming weakness but do not stop the weakness from being exploitable; the flaw remains present in the product and can still be triggered from an authorized or internal context.

blocks

Monitoring network service usage and applying controls to restrict access when necessary limits an attacker’s ability to consume excessive resources through unrestricted or unauthenticated service calls.

Hardening callouts derived

DISA STIG baselines are authored against specific weaknesses. Where this CVE cites a broad weakness class, the mapping is not asserted at that abstraction (owner ruling, 2026-09-25: grade only at Base and below), so no rule is shown here rather than a rule shown against the wrong grain.

  • No fine-grained STIG row for CWE-400, a class-level weakness. Rules are authored against its narrower children: CWE-770.

References