CVE-2023-46748F5 BIG-IP Configuration Utility SQL Injection Vulnerability
CVE-2023-46748 is a SQL injection in F5 BIG-IP Configuration Utility, rated high (8.8 on CVSS 3.1).
Why this priority: Exploited in the wild: listed in CISA's KEV catalog.
Published · Updated · NVD status: Analyzed
What it is
Input is pasted into a database query, so an attacker can rewrite the query to read or change data.
How it is reached
An attacker can exploit it over the network, with an ordinary user account, and nobody has to click anything.
What an attacker gains
A successful attack can read the data it protects, change data or behaviour and take it offline. In practice, this kind of flaw lets an attacker read or change records in the data store behind the application.
Is it being exploited?
CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2023-10-31: it is being exploited in the wild. EPSS estimates a 4.3% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 91% of scored CVEs.
What to do
- Treat it as urgent: it is on CISA's KEV list. CISA's deadline for US federal agencies: 2023-11-21.
- No fixed version is listed yet. Find every place F5 BIG-IP Configuration Utility runs, watch the references for a fix, and plan a replacement if it is no longer supported.
- While there is no fix, review who holds accounts that can reach it.
- Check exposed instances for signs of compromise, not only for the version.
Description from NVD
An authenticated SQL injection vulnerability exists in the BIG-IP Configuration utility which
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.
Note: Software versions which have reached End of Technical Support (EoTS) are not evaluated
What this means for your architecture.
A CVE names a product. Whether it matters depends on where that product sits in your systems: what reaches it, which trust boundary it guards and what it can reach once compromised. Veriom maps your components, their relationships and your trust boundaries from your code, cloud and delivery evidence, so you can see where a component like this sits. The radar itself does not look at your systems.
Components it touches
- Network edge devices: VPNs, firewalls, routers and gateways. They sit between the internet and internal networks, so a flaw in one is often the first step into everything behind it.
- Services that build database or directory queries. The flaw sits between the application and its data store.
- Databases. The flaw sits between the application and its data store.
Trust boundaries in play
- Authenticated network access. An account is needed, so exposure follows who can sign in: customers, partners or staff.
- Between the application and its data store. An attacker who crosses it can read or change records in the data store behind the application.
Questions to answer about your own systems
- Where does F5 BIG-IP Configuration Utility run in your systems, and at which version?
- Which of those instances can be reached from the internet or partner networks?
- What can it reach once compromised: which data stores, secrets and services?
Sources
- CVE records and CVSS scores from the NVD CVE API. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
- Exploitation status from CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
- Exploit likelihood from FIRST’s Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), refreshed daily.
- Explanations are written by Veriom from fixed templates over each record’s data, not by a person reviewing each CVE. Descriptions are quoted from the records as published.