VulnerabilityPublished 15 Oct 2025Updated 26 Feb 2026

CVE-2025-59478: F5 BIG-IP · Access of Uninitialized Pointer

Affects F5 BIG-IPSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.5High

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

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 30% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

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

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: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
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: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 15 Oct 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 26 Oct 2026.

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 or the CVSS exploit maturity 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
F5f5/big-ip`pkg:rpm/f5/big-ip`Other threats	Affected =17.5.0 =17.1.0 =15.1.0	Fixed in–

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

Monitor F5 Networks' official security advisories and promptly apply patches or updates once they are released for this vulnerability.
Until patches are available, consider disabling or carefully restricting the use of AFM denial-of-service protection profiles on virtual servers, especially in environments exposed to untrusted networks.
Implement network-level access controls to limit exposure of BIG-IP management and virtual server interfaces to trusted sources only.
Use intrusion detection and prevention systems to monitor for anomalous or crafted traffic patterns that could trigger the vulnerability.
Employ redundancy and failover mechanisms to minimize service disruption if the TMM process crashes.
Conduct regular configuration reviews and security audits of BIG-IP deployments to ensure minimal attack surface.
Engage with F5 support for guidance on temporary workarounds or mitigations specific to your deployment.
Maintain comprehensive logging and monitoring to detect and respond quickly to any exploitation attempts.

Description

When a BIG-IP AFM denial-of-service (DoS) protection profile is configured on a virtual server, undisclosed requests can cause the Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM) process to terminate. Note: Software versions which have reached End of Technical Support (EoTS) are not evaluated.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2025-59478 is a denial-of-service condition caused by the termination of the TMM process on affected BIG-IP devices. This can lead to temporary or prolonged unavailability of critical network traffic management and security functions, including firewalling, load balancing, and DoS protection. Organizations relying on BIG-IP for perimeter defense or internal traffic control may experience service outages, degraded performance, or loss of security enforcement during exploitation. This disruption can affect business continuity, customer experience, and compliance with security policies. Since the vulnerability requires no authentication and can be triggered remotely, attackers can exploit it at scale to cause widespread outages. The lack of known exploits currently reduces immediate risk, but the vulnerability remains a significant threat due to the critical role of BIG-IP in enterprise and service provider networks. The impact is especially severe for sectors with high availability requirements such as financial services, telecommunications, government, and cloud providers.

CWE-824Access of Uninitialized Pointer (opens in a new tab)
Base weakness
The product accesses or uses a pointer that has not been initialized.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
Mass Assignment (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.3 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K000152341 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

Loading reviews…

Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 27 Feb 2026, 05:43 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-824

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats