Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-21789

F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall 17.1.0 – 17.1.1

Published
14 February 2024
Modified
17 June 2026
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 0.0052 41th percentile
Risk Priority 58 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-21789 is a high-severity Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime (CWE-772) vulnerability in F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Endpoint Denial of Service (T1499); ranked at the 41th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-15 (Development Process, Standards, and Tools) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

When a BIG-IP ASM/Advanced WAF security policy is configured on a virtual server, undisclosed requests can cause an increase in memory resource utilization.  Note: Software versions which have reached End of Technical Support (EoTS) are not evaluated

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1499 Endpoint Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Endpoint Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of services to users.
T1499.002 Service Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may target the different network services provided by systems to conduct a denial of service (DoS).
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-54858Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2023-23552Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2025-58474Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2024-23308Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2026-39455Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2023-22302Same product: F5 Big-Ip Application Security Manager
CVE-2025-61938Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2026-22548Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2024-23805Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2025-61935Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall

Affected Assets

f5
big-ip advanced web application firewall
17.1.0 — 17.1.1
f5
big-ip application security manager
17.1.0 — 17.1.1

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation can discover missing resource releases through dynamic analysis or stress testing.

Requiring documented development standards and tools can mandate explicit resource-release patterns in code.

Resource-quota allocation limits the blast radius of an unreleased-resource exhaustion condition.

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.

ID.AM-08 mostly match
prevents

Lifecycle management explicitly requires handling resources through end-of-life including release.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly prevent missing resource-release defects during development.

DE.CM-09 partial match
prevents

Runtime monitoring may surface resource-exhaustion symptoms but does not address release logic.

PR.IR-04 partial match
prevents

Capacity monitoring can detect exhaustion caused by unreleased resources but does not prevent the root defect.

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.

degrades

Explicit information-deletion requirements directly address timely release of resources after use.

prevents

Secure-SDLC practices include resource-management reviews, yet the control covers the entire lifecycle, not just this weakness.

prevents

Secure-coding rules can mandate explicit resource-release patterns, but the control is broader than this single weakness.

detects

Change-management processes may catch missing de-allocation during reviews, but the control itself does not target resource lifetime.

none

Configuration baselines can enforce resource limits or timeouts, indirectly reducing exposure to leaks.

References