ESB-2023.6311 – [Appliance] BIG-IP: CVSS (Max): 9.8

October 31, 2023

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AUSCERT External Security Bulletin Redistribution

ESB-2023.6311
K000137365 : BIG-IP Configuration utility authenticated SQL
injection vulnerability CVE-2023-46748
31 October 2023

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AusCERT Security Bulletin Summary
———————————

Product: BIG-IP
Publisher: F5 Networks
Operating System: Network Appliance
Resolution: Patch/Upgrade
CVE Names: CVE-2023-46748 CVE-2023-46747

Original Bulletin:
https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K000137365

Comment: CVSS (Max): 9.8 CVE-2023-46747 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)
CVSS Source: F5 Networks
Calculator: https://www.first.org/cvss/calculator/3.1#CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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K000137365: BIG-IP Configuration utility authenticated SQL injection
vulnerability CVE-2023-46748

Published Date: Oct 26, 2023
Updated Date: Oct 30, 2023

Security Advisory Description

An authenticated SQL injection vulnerability exists in the BIG-IP Configuration
utility. (CVE-2023-46748)

Impact

This vulnerability may allow an authenticated attacker with network access to
the Configuration utility through the BIG-IP management port and/or self IP
addresses to execute arbitrary system commands. There is no data plane
exposure; this is a control plane issue only.

Security Advisory Status

F5 Product Development has assigned ID 1381357 (BIG-IP) to this vulnerability.
This issue has been classified as CWE-89: Improper Neutralization of Special
Elements used in an SQL Command (‘SQL Injection’).

To determine if your product and version have been evaluated for this
vulnerability, refer to the Evaluated products box. To determine if your
release is known to be vulnerable, the components or features that are affected
by the vulnerability, and for information about releases, point releases, or
hotfixes that address the vulnerability, refer to the following tables. You can
also use iHealth to diagnose a vulnerability for BIG-IP and BIG-IQ systems. For
more information about using iHealth, refer to K27404821: Using F5 iHealth to
diagnose vulnerabilities. For more information about security advisory
versioning, refer to K51812227: Understanding security advisory versioning.

In this section

o BIG-IP Next
o BIG-IP and BIG-IQ
o F5 Distributed Cloud Services
o F5OS
o NGINX
o Other products

BIG-IP Next

Note: After a fix is introduced for a given minor branch, that fix applies to
all subsequent maintenance and point releases for that branch, and no
additional fixes for that branch will be listed in the table. For example, when
a fix is introduced in 20.0.2, the fix also applies to 20.0.3, and all later
20.1.x releases. For more information, refer to K51812227: Understanding
security advisory versioning.

^1F5 evaluates only software versions that have not yet reached the End of
Technical Support (EoTS) phase of their lifecycle. For more information, refer
to the Security hotfixes section of K4602: Overview of the F5 security
vulnerability response policy.

BIG-IP and BIG-IQ

Note: After a fix is introduced for a given minor branch, that fix applies to
all subsequent maintenance and point releases for that branch, and no
additional fixes for that branch will be listed in the table. For example, when
a fix is introduced in 14.1.2.3, the fix also applies to 14.1.2.4, and all
later 14.1.x releases (14.1.3.x., 14.1.4.x). For more information, refer to
K51812227: Understanding security advisory versioning.

+———–+——+———–+———————————-+———-+——+————-+
| | |Versions | | |CVSSv3|Vulnerable |
|Product |Branch|known to be|Fixes introduced in |Severity |score^|component or |
| | |vulnerable^| | |2 |feature |
| | |1 | | | | |
+———–+——+———–+———————————-+———-+——+————-+
| |17.x |17.1.0 |17.1.0.3 + | | | |
| | | |Hotfix-BIGIP-17.1.0.3.0.75.4-ENG^3| | | |
| +——+———–+———————————-+ | | |
| |16.x |16.1.0 – |16.1.4.1 + | | | |
| | |16.1.4 |Hotfix-BIGIP-16.1.4.1.0.50.5-ENG^3| | | |
| +——+———–+———————————-+ | | |
|BIG-IP (all| |15.1.0 – |15.1.10.2 + | | |Configuration|
|modules) |15.x |15.1.10 |Hotfix-BIGIP-15.1.10.2.0.44.2-ENG^|High |8.8 |utility |
| | | |3 | | | |
| +——+———–+———————————-+ | | |
| |14.x |14.1.0 – |14.1.5.6 + | | | |
| | |14.1.5 |Hotfix-BIGIP-14.1.5.6.0.10.6-ENG^3| | | |
| +——+———–+———————————-+ | | |
| |13.x |13.1.0 – |13.1.5.1 + | | | |
| | |13.1.5 |Hotfix-BIGIP-13.1.5.1.0.20.2-ENG^3| | | |
+———–+——+———–+———————————-+———-+——+————-+
|BIG-IQ | | | |Not | | |
|Centralized|All |None |Not applicable |vulnerable|None |None |
|Management | | | | | | |
+———–+——+———–+———————————-+———-+——+————-+

F5 evaluates only software versions that have not yet reached the End of
Technical Support (EoTS) phase of their lifecycle. For more information, refer
to the Security hotfixes section of K4602: Overview of the F5 security
vulnerability response policy.

The CVSSv3 score link takes you to a resource outside of MyF5, and it is
possible that the document may be removed without our knowledge.

F5 has fixed this issue in an engineering hotfix that is available for
versions of the BIG-IP system which have not yet reached End of Software
Development. Customers affected by this issue can download the engineering
hotfix from the MyF5 Downloads page. After selecting your product and version
from the Downloads page, scroll to the bottom of the page to locate the hotfix
file. For example, to download Hotfix-BIGIP-17.1.0.3.0.75.4-ENG, select
17.1.0.3, then scroll down to select Hotfix-BIGIP-17.1.0.3.0.75.4-ENG.iso. For
more information, refer to K000090258: Download F5 products from MyF5. While F5
endeavors to release the most stable code possible, engineering hotfixes do not
undergo the extensive QA assessment of scheduled software releases. F5 offers
engineering hotfixes with no warranty or guarantee of usability. For more
information about the hotfix policy, refer to K4918: Overview of the F5
critical issue hotfix policy.

F5 Distributed Cloud Services

F5OS

NGINX

Other products

Security Advisory Recommended Actions

If you are running a version listed in the Versions known to be vulnerable
column, you can eliminate this vulnerability by installing a version listed in
the Fixes introduced in column. If the Fixes introduced in column does not list
a version for your branch, then no update candidate currently exists for that
branch and F5 recommends that you upgrade to a version with the fix (refer to
the tables).

If the Fixes introduced in column lists a version prior to the one you are
running, in the same branch, then your version should have the fix.

Mitigation

As this attack is conducted by legitimate, authenticated users, there is no
viable mitigation that also allows users access to the Configuration utility.
The only mitigation is to remove access for users who are not completely
trusted.

Until you can install a fixed version, you can use the following sections as
temporary mitigations. These mitigations restrict access to the Configuration
utility to only trusted networks or devices, thereby limiting the attack
surface.

o Block Configuration utility access through self IP addresses
o Block Configuration utility access through the management interface

Block Configuration utility access through self IP addresses

You can block all access to the Configuration utility of your BIG-IP system
using self IP addresses. To do so, you can change the Port Lockdown setting to
Allow None for each self IP address on the system. If you must open any ports,
you should use the Allow Custom option, taking care to block access to the
Configuration utility. By default, the Configuration utility listens on TCP
port 443. If you modified the default port, ensure that you block access to the
alternate port you configured.

Note: Performing this action prevents all access to the Configuration utility
and iControl REST using the self IP address. These changes may also impact
other services, including breaking high availability (HA) configurations.

Before you make changes to the configuration of your self IP addresses, F5
strongly recommends that you refer to the following articles:

o K17333: Overview of port lockdown behavior (12.x – 17.x)
o K13092: Overview of securing access to the BIG-IP system
o K31003634: The Configuration utility of the Single-NIC BIG-IP Virtual
Edition now defaults to TCP port 8443
o K51358480: The single-NIC BIG-IP VE may erroneously revert to the default
management httpd port after a configuration reload

If you must expose port 443 on your self IP addresses and want to restrict
access to specific IP ranges, you may consider using the packet filtering
functionality built into the BIG-IP system. For more information, refer to the
following article:

o K13383: Configuring CIDR Network Addresses for the BIG-IP packet filter

Block Configuration utility access through the management interface

To mitigate this vulnerability for affected F5 products, you should restrict
management access to F5 products to only trusted users and devices over a
secure network. For more information about securing access to BIG-IP systems,
refer to the following articles:

o K13309: Restricting access to the Configuration utility by source IP
address (11.x – 17.x)
o K13092: Overview of securing access to the BIG-IP system
o K46122561: Restrict access to the management interface using network
firewall rules

Indicators of compromise

Important: This section was last updated on October 30, 2023 at 14:35 Pacific
time.

This information is based on the evidence F5 has seen on compromised devices,
which appear to be reliable indicators. It is important to note that not all
exploited systems may show the same indicators, and, indeed, a skilled attacker
may be able to remove traces of their work. It is not possible to prove a
device has not been compromised; when there is any uncertainty, you should
consider the device compromised. For information about handling suspected
compromised systems, please review K11438344: Considerations and guidance when
you suspect a security compromise on a BIG-IP system.

All versions

F5 has observed threat actors using this vulnerability in combination with
CVE-2023-46747. Below are the indicators of compromise observed with
CVE-2023-46748.

You may see entries in the /var/log/tomcat/catalina.out file similar to the
following example:

{…}
java.sql.SQLException: Column not found: 0.
{…)
sh: no job control in this shell
sh-4.2$
sh-4.2$ exit.

In the previous example, note the following:

o In the line of Column not found: 0, the 0 can be replaced with a different
number.
o In the line of , the command will be replaced with
a different command.

Acknowledgments

F5 acknowledges researchers who would like to remain anonymous for bringing
this issue to our attention and following the highest standards of coordinated
disclosure.

Related Content

o K41942608: Overview of MyF5 security advisory articles
o K12201527: Overview of Quarterly Security Notifications
o K51812227: Understanding security advisory versioning
o K4602: Overview of the F5 security vulnerability response policy
o K4918: Overview of the F5 critical issue hotfix policy
o K39757430: F5 product and services lifecycle policy index
o K9502: BIG-IP hotfix and point release matrix
o K13123: Managing BIG-IP product hotfixes (11.x – 17.x)
o K48955220: Installing an OPSWAT Endpoint Security update on BIG-IP APM
systems (11.4.x and later)
o K000090258: Download F5 products from MyF5
o K9970: Subscribing to email notifications regarding F5 products
o K9957: Creating a custom RSS feed to view new and updated documents
o K44525501: Overview of BIG-IP data plane and control plane

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