Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-53856

F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager 15.1.0 – 15.1.10.8

Published
15 October 2025
Modified
21 October 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 8.7
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/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 0.0032 25th percentile
Risk Priority 44 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-2025-53856 is a high-severity Incorrect Control Flow Scoping (CWE-705) vulnerability in F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager. Its CVSS base score is 8.7 (High).

Operationally, ranked at the 25th 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-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

When a virtual server, network address translation (NAT) object, or secure network address translation (SNAT) object uses the embedded Packet Velocity Acceleration (ePVA) feature, undisclosed traffic can cause the Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM) to terminate. To determine which BIG-IP platforms…

more

have an ePVA chip refer to K12837: Overview of the ePVA feature https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K12837 . Note: Software versions which have reached End of Technical Support (EoTS) are not evaluated.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-42924Same product: F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager
CVE-2025-59269Same product: F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager
CVE-2026-20732Same product: F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager
CVE-2026-39455Same product: F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager
CVE-2026-40462Same product: F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager
CVE-2026-40631Same product: F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager
CVE-2026-40423Same product: F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager
CVE-2025-61958Same product: F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager
CVE-2025-20029Same product: F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager
CVE-2026-32673Same product: F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager

Affected Assets

f5
big-ip access policy manager
15.1.0 — 15.1.10.8 · 16.1.0 — 16.1.6.1 · 17.1.0 — 17.1.3
f5
big-ip advanced firewall manager
15.1.0 — 15.1.10.8 · 16.1.0 — 16.1.6.1 · 17.1.0 — 17.1.3
f5
big-ip advanced web application firewall
15.1.0 — 15.1.10.8 · 16.1.0 — 16.1.6.1 · 17.1.0 — 17.1.3
f5
big-ip analytics
15.1.0 — 15.1.10.8 · 16.1.0 — 16.1.6.1 · 17.1.0 — 17.1.3
f5
big-ip application acceleration manager
15.1.0 — 15.1.10.8 · 16.1.0 — 16.1.6.1 · 17.1.0 — 17.1.3
f5
big-ip application security manager
15.1.0 — 15.1.10.8 · 16.1.0 — 16.1.6.1 · 17.1.0 — 17.1.3
f5
big-ip application visibility and reporting
15.1.0 — 15.1.10.8 · 16.1.0 — 16.1.6.1 · 17.1.0 — 17.1.3
f5
big-ip automation toolchain
15.1.0 — 15.1.10.8 · 16.1.0 — 16.1.6.1 · 17.1.0 — 17.1.3
f5
big-ip carrier-grade nat
15.1.0 — 15.1.10.8 · 16.1.0 — 16.1.6.1 · 17.1.0 — 17.1.3
f5
big-ip container ingress services
15.1.0 — 15.1.10.8 · 16.1.0 — 16.1.6.1 · 17.1.0 — 17.1.3
+11 more product configuration(s) — see NVD for full list

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation can discover missing returns, incorrect exception paths, or failure to restore control flow after unusual conditions.

Security engineering principles can require structured control-flow constructs and explicit state transitions that avoid improper scoping after tasks or errors.

Failing to a known state on indicated failures limits damage from control-flow errors without preventing the underlying scoping mistake.

Fail-safe procedures reduce the consequences of unhandled or mis-scoped control flow on failure but do not correct the scoping defect itself.

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 directly prevent control-flow scoping errors in code while the control itself encompasses many additional development controls.

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

Security testing can detect control-flow scoping defects before release.

prevents

Secure development lifecycle practices can catch improper control-flow scoping during design and code review.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly address correct return and exception handling to prevent control-flow errors.

References