Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-20058

DoS in F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager 15.1.0 – 15.1.10

Published
05 February 2025
Modified
21 October 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 8.9
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
EPSS Score 0.0040 33th percentile
Risk Priority 45 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-20058 is a high-severity Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400) vulnerability in F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager. Its CVSS base score is 8.9 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique OS Exhaustion Flood (T1499.001); ranked at the 33th 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 SC-5 (Denial-of-service Protection) and SC-6 (Resource Availability) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

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-2025-20058 is a denial-of-service vulnerability in F5 BIG-IP systems, specifically affecting configurations where a message routing profile is enabled on a virtual server. Undisclosed traffic directed at such a virtual server can trigger excessive memory resource utilization, classified under CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption). The vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H), indicating high severity due to its potential for availability disruption without requiring authentication or user interaction. Only BIG-IP software versions still under technical support are evaluated for impact.

A remote, unauthenticated attacker can exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted traffic to the affected virtual server. Successful exploitation leads to increased memory consumption on the BIG-IP system, potentially resulting in resource exhaustion and denial-of-service conditions that impair the device's functionality and traffic processing capabilities.

F5 has published an advisory detailing the issue and mitigation strategies at https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K000140947. Security practitioners should consult this reference for specific affected versions, patch availability, and recommended configuration changes. Note that software versions at End of Technical Support (EoTS) are not evaluated.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

When a BIG-IP message routing profile is configured on a virtual server, undisclosed traffic 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

T1499.001 OS Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may launch a denial of service (DoS) attack targeting an endpoint's operating system (OS).
T1498 Network Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Network Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of targeted resources to users.
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).
T1499.003 Application Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may target resource intensive features of applications to cause a denial of service (DoS), denying availability to those applications.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-21087Same product: F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager
CVE-2023-24594Same product: F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager
CVE-2023-22664Same product: F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager
CVE-2024-41727Same product: F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager
CVE-2026-40423Same product: F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager
CVE-2026-34019Same product: F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager
CVE-2025-46706Same product: F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager
CVE-2023-40542Same product: F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager
CVE-2025-36504Same product: F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager
CVE-2026-40629Same product: F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager

Affected Assets

f5
big-ip access policy manager
15.1.0 — 15.1.10 · 16.1.0 — 16.1.6 · 17.1.0 — 17.1.2
f5
big-ip advanced firewall manager
15.1.0 — 15.1.10 · 16.1.0 — 16.1.6 · 17.1.0 — 17.1.2
f5
big-ip advanced web application firewall
15.1.0 — 15.1.10 · 16.1.0 — 16.1.6 · 17.1.0 — 17.1.2
f5
big-ip analytics
15.1.0 — 15.1.10 · 16.1.0 — 16.1.6 · 17.1.0 — 17.1.2
f5
big-ip application acceleration manager
15.1.0 — 15.1.10 · 16.1.0 — 16.1.6 · 17.1.0 — 17.1.2
f5
big-ip application security manager
15.1.0 — 15.1.10 · 16.1.0 — 16.1.6 · 17.1.0 — 17.1.2
f5
big-ip application visibility and reporting
15.1.0 — 15.1.10 · 16.1.0 — 16.1.6 · 17.1.0 — 17.1.2
f5
big-ip automation toolchain
15.1.0 — 15.1.10 · 16.1.0 — 16.1.6 · 17.1.0 — 17.1.2
f5
big-ip carrier-grade nat
15.1.0 — 15.1.10 · 16.1.0 — 16.1.6 · 17.1.0 — 17.1.2
f5
big-ip container ingress services
15.1.0 — 15.1.10 · 16.1.0 — 16.1.6 · 17.1.0 — 17.1.2
+11 more product configuration(s) — see NVD for full list

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SC-5 directly limits the effects of resource-exhaustion events that constitute uncontrolled consumption.

SC-6 enforces explicit allocation limits on resources, structurally preventing the weakness from occurring.

Process isolation confines resource consumption to separate domains, reducing blast radius without stopping the root flaw.

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.IR-04 mostly match
prevents

Explicitly requires monitoring and maintaining resource capacity, directly addressing uncontrolled consumption to preserve availability.

DE.CM-09 partial match
prevents

Continuous monitoring of computing resources can detect resource exhaustion but does not itself enforce allocation limits.

PR.IR-03 partial match
prevents

Resilience mechanisms such as avoiding single points of failure indirectly reduce impact of resource exhaustion.

PR.PS-01 partial match
prevents

Hardened configuration baselines can include resource quotas and limits that constrain consumption.

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

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

prevents

By continuously monitoring utilization, stress-testing peak loads, and maintaining documented plans to scale or throttle resources, the control directly limits an attacker’s ability to drive a system into uncontrolled resource exhaustion.

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.

mitigates

Business-continuity plans that include resource-management controls reduce the likelihood that an attacker can trigger uncontrolled resource consumption by forcing the system into a degraded or fallback state.

mitigates

Defining RTOs and capacity requirements for ICT services during business-impact analysis forces organizations to provision sufficient resources and throttling mechanisms, reducing the likelihood that an attacker can induce denial-of-service through uncontrolled resource consumption.

finds

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

References