VulnerabilityPublished 15 Oct 2025Updated 26 Feb 2026

CVE-2025-61960: F5 BIG-IP · NULL Pointer Dereference

Affects F5 BIG-IPSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 11:42 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 28% 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
F5 BIG-IP	Affected =17.5.0 =17.1.0 =16.1.0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2025-61960, organizations should first review their BIG-IP configurations to identify if per-request policies are enabled on APM portal access virtual servers. If such policies are not essential, consider disabling them temporarily until patches are available. Monitor BIG-IP system logs and TMM process health closely for signs of unexpected termination or crashes. Implement network-level protections such as rate limiting and traffic filtering to reduce exposure to potentially malformed or undisclosed traffic patterns that could trigger the vulnerability. Stay informed by subscribing to F5 security advisories and promptly apply vendor-released patches or updates once they become available. In environments where patching cannot be immediate, consider deploying redundant BIG-IP devices or failover mechanisms to maintain service availability. Additionally, conduct regular backups of BIG-IP configurations and ensure incident response plans include procedures for rapid recovery from TMM process failures. Engage with F5 support for guidance and potential workarounds specific to your deployment.

Description

When a per-request policy is configured on a BIG-IP APM portal access virtual server, undisclosed traffic can cause the Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM) to terminate. Note: Software versions which have reached End of Technical Support (EoTS) are not evaluated.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2025-61960 is a denial of service condition caused by the termination of the Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM) process. This can lead to service outages for organizations relying on F5 BIG-IP devices for application delivery, load balancing, and access management. Since BIG-IP devices are often deployed in critical network infrastructure, including enterprise data centers, cloud environments, and service provider networks, the disruption can affect a wide range of services and users. The vulnerability does not compromise confidentiality or integrity, but the loss of availability can result in significant operational and financial consequences, including downtime for business-critical applications, degraded user experience, and potential cascading failures in dependent systems. The ease of remote exploitation without authentication increases the risk of automated attacks or exploitation by opportunistic threat actors. Organizations with per-request policies configured on BIG-IP APM portals are particularly vulnerable, and the impact could be more severe in environments with high traffic volumes or complex policy configurations.

CWE-476NULL Pointer Dereference (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: MediumCWE Top 25 (2025): #13OWASP Top 10 A10:2025: Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions (opens in a new tab)
The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL.
Implementation
For any pointers that could have been modified or provided from a function that can return NULL, check the pointer for NULL before use. When working with a multithreaded or otherwise asynchronous environment, ensure that proper locking APIs are used to lock before the check, and unlock when it has finished.
Requirements
Select a programming language that is not susceptible to these issues.
Implementation
Check the results of all functions that return a value and verify that the value is non-null before acting upon it.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Logging (opens in a new tab)
Error Handling (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V11.1.7 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K000156597 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

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

WeaknessesCWE-476

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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