Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-21849

F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall 16.1.0 – 16.1.4

Published
14 February 2024
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
View 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-2024-21849 is a high-severity Return of Pointer Value Outside of Expected Range (CWE-466) 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 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); 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 an Advanced WAF/ASM security policy and a Websockets profile are configured on a virtual server, undisclosed traffic can cause the Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM) process to terminate. Note: Software versions which have reached End of Technical Support (EoTS) are…

more

not evaluated.

CWE(s)
CWE-466NVD-CWE-Other

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.
attack.mitre.org →
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-61935Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2024-23805Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2026-40060Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2025-61938Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2026-22548Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2024-23603Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2024-23308Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2025-58474Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2023-23552Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall
CVE-2024-21789Same product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Web Application Firewall

Affected Assets

f5
big-ip advanced web application firewall
16.1.0 — 16.1.4
f5
big-ip application security manager
16.1.0 — 16.1.4

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.4.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation can discover functions that return pointers outside expected buffer bounds.

SA-15 Development Process, Standards, and Tools partial match

Requiring documented development standards and tools can enforce safe pointer arithmetic and bounds checking to avoid out-of-range returns.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Security engineering principles applied during design can include explicit pointer-range validation and safe memory handling.

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 practices enforce bounds checking, static analysis, and pointer validation that directly prevent out-of-range pointer returns.

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.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing in development can detect out-of-range pointer returns through static analysis and fuzzing.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices can include pointer-range validation and bounds checking to prevent out-of-range returns.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can mandate pointer safety and range validation to avoid returning invalid addresses.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
degrades

Secure architecture principles can enforce memory-safety patterns that reduce the likelihood of out-of-range pointer returns.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards directly address pointer validation and bounds checking, mitigating this specific weakness.

References