CVE-2025-24497
Published: 05 February 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-24497 is a high-severity Out-of-bounds Read (CWE-125) vulnerability in F5 Big-Ip Policy Enforcement Manager. Its CVSS base score is 8.7 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 34.5% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SC-5 (Denial-of-service Protection) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2025-24497 is a denial-of-service vulnerability affecting the F5 BIG-IP Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM). When URL categorization is configured on a virtual server, certain undisclosed requests can cause TMM to terminate. The issue is linked to CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read) and 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), reflecting high availability impact with no confidentiality or integrity effects. Software versions that have reached End of Technical Support (EoTS) were not evaluated.
A remote, unauthenticated attacker can exploit this vulnerability by sending the undisclosed requests to an affected virtual server with URL categorization enabled. Successful exploitation leads to TMM termination, resulting in a denial of service that disrupts traffic processing on the BIG-IP system until TMM restarts.
The F5 security advisory at https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K000140920 provides details on mitigation, including available patches and configuration guidance.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-3732
Vulnerability details
When URL categorization is configured on a virtual server, undisclosed requests can cause 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 TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Vulnerability in public-facing F5 BIG-IP virtual server with URL categorization allows remote unauthenticated DoS via crafted requests, directly enabling T1190 (Exploit Public-Facing Application).
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly remediates the out-of-bounds read flaw in TMM by applying vendor patches for affected BIG-IP versions.
Protects against denial-of-service by limiting effects of malformed requests causing TMM termination.
Validates incoming requests to URL categorization-enabled virtual servers, rejecting malformed inputs that trigger the out-of-bounds read.