CVE-2015-6546 in BIG-IP
Summary
by MITRE
The vCMP host in F5 BIG-IP Analytics, APM, ASM, GTM, Link Controller, and LTM 11.0.0 before 11.6.0, BIG-IP AAM 11.4.0 before 11.6.0, BIG-IP AFM and PEM 11.3.0 before 11.6.0, BIG-IP Edge Gateway, WebAccelerator, and WOM 11.0.0 through 11.3.0, BIG-IP PSM 11.0.0 through 11.4.1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via "malicious traffic."
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/25/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2015-6546 represents a critical denial of service weakness affecting multiple F5 BIG-IP product lines including Analytics, APM, ASM, GTM, Link Controller, LTM, AAM, AFM, PEM, Edge Gateway, WebAccelerator, WOM, and PSM. This flaw exists within the vCMP host functionality and affects versions prior to the specified security patches, creating a significant operational risk for organizations relying on these network infrastructure components. The vulnerability manifests when the system processes malicious traffic patterns that trigger unexpected behavior in the virtualized computing platform, leading to system instability and service interruption.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and error handling within the vCMP host processing logic. When the system encounters specially crafted malicious traffic, it fails to properly sanitize or reject the malformed inputs, causing the host to enter an unstable state that ultimately results in a complete denial of service condition. This weakness operates at the protocol processing layer where network traffic is parsed and handled, making it particularly dangerous as it can be exploited remotely without requiring authentication or privileged access. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-129, which addresses improper validation of input boundaries, and represents a classic example of how malformed input can lead to system instability and service disruption.
From an operational perspective, the impact of CVE-2015-6546 extends beyond simple service interruption to potentially compromise entire network infrastructure availability. Organizations utilizing affected F5 BIG-IP products face significant business disruption risks as the vulnerability can be exploited by remote attackers to render critical network services inaccessible. The attack vector requires only the ability to send malicious traffic to the affected system, making it particularly dangerous in environments where network traffic is not properly filtered or monitored. This vulnerability directly maps to attack techniques described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under T1499, which covers network denial of service attacks, and T1071, which encompasses application layer protocol usage. The operational impact includes potential revenue loss, customer service degradation, and increased incident response overhead.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the vendor-provided security patches and updates for all affected F5 BIG-IP product versions. Network administrators should also deploy traffic filtering rules and intrusion detection/prevention systems to identify and block suspicious traffic patterns that may exploit this vulnerability. Additional defensive measures include implementing network segmentation to limit exposure, monitoring for unusual traffic patterns, and maintaining robust backup and recovery procedures to ensure business continuity during potential exploitation events. The vulnerability serves as a reminder of the critical importance of maintaining current security patches and implementing defense-in-depth strategies to protect against remote exploitation of infrastructure components. Organizations should also consider conducting vulnerability assessments to identify other potential weaknesses in their F5 BIG-IP deployments and ensure comprehensive security coverage across all network infrastructure components.