CVE-2025-14727VulnerabilityPublished 17 Dec 2025Updated 26 Feb 2026

CVE-2025-14727: F5 NGINX Ingress Controller · Path Traversal

Affects F5 NGINX Ingress ControllerSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.3 High.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

8.3High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 37% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
Availability: Low

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 17 Dec 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-25.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
F5 NGINX Ingress Controller	Affected =5.3.0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

1. Immediately audit ingress resources and review usage of the nginx.org/rewrite-target annotation to identify potentially unsafe or untrusted inputs. 2. Restrict who can create or modify ingress annotations to trusted administrators only, minimizing exposure to unprivileged users. 3. Implement strict admission controller policies or validating webhooks in Kubernetes to enforce safe rewrite-target values and prevent path traversal patterns. 4. Monitor ingress controller logs for suspicious rewrite-target usage or unexpected file access attempts. 5. Apply network segmentation and least privilege principles to limit access to the ingress controller pods and underlying nodes. 6. Stay updated with F5 security advisories and apply patches or updates promptly once released. 7. Consider using runtime security tools that can detect anomalous file system access or container escape attempts related to ingress controllers. 8. Conduct regular security assessments and penetration tests focusing on ingress controller configurations and annotations.

Description

A vulnerability exists in NGINX Ingress Controller's nginx.org/rewrite-target annotation validation. Note: Software versions which have reached End of Technical Support (EoTS) are not evaluated.

Impact

The vulnerability allows attackers to bypass directory restrictions and access or modify files outside the intended scope, potentially exposing sensitive configuration files, credentials, or system data. This can lead to data breaches, unauthorized configuration changes, or further compromise of the Kubernetes cluster and underlying infrastructure. Organizations relying on F5 NGINX Ingress Controller for ingress management in Kubernetes environments face risks of confidentiality and integrity violations. While availability impact is limited, the breach of sensitive data or control over ingress behavior can facilitate lateral movement or privilege escalation within the environment. The threat is significant for cloud-native applications, multi-tenant clusters, and organizations with strict compliance requirements. Exploitation ease is moderate due to the need for some privileges but no user interaction, increasing the likelihood of targeted attacks. The absence of known exploits currently provides a window for proactive mitigation.

Summary

CVE-2025-14727 is a path traversal vulnerability classified under CWE-22 affecting the F5 NGINX Ingress Controller, specifically version 5.3.0. The flaw exists in the validation logic of the nginx.org/rewrite-target annotation, which is used to rewrite request URIs in Kubernetes ingress resources. Due to improper limitation of pathname inputs, an attacker with low privileges can craft malicious rewrite-target values that traverse directories outside the intended restricted directory. This can lead to unauthorized access or modification of files on the underlying system hosting the ingress controller. The vulnerability does not require user interaction and can be exploited remotely over the network, but it does require some level of privileges (PR:L) on the ingress controller to manipulate ingress annotations. The impact includes high confidentiality and integrity loss, as attackers may read or alter sensitive configuration or system files, with a low impact on availability. The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 score of 8.3, indicating a high severity threat. No public exploits are known at this time, and no patches have been linked yet, but organizations should monitor for updates from F5. This vulnerability is particularly relevant for Kubernetes clusters using F5's NGINX Ingress Controller to manage ingress traffic, especially in environments where ingress annotations are user-controlled or exposed to untrusted users.

CWE-22Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #6OWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory.
Implementation · Input Validation
Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does.
Architecture and Design
For any security checks that are performed on the client side, ensure that these checks are duplicated on the server side, in order to avoid CWE-602. Attackers can bypass the client-side checks by modifying values after the checks have been performed, or by changing the client to remove the client-side checks…
Implementation · Input Validation
Inputs should be decoded and canonicalized to the application's current internal representation before being validated (CWE-180). Make sure that the application does not decode the same input twice (CWE-174).
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V12.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Path Traversal (opens in a new tab)
Using Slashes and URL Encoding Combined to Bypass Validation Logic (opens in a new tab)
Manipulating Web Input to File System Calls (opens in a new tab)
Using Escaped Slashes in Alternate Encoding (opens in a new tab)
Using Slashes in Alternate Encoding (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K000158176 (opens in a new tab)

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 27 Feb 2026, 06:31 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-22

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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