Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Certain F5 BIG-IP systems running Advanced WAF or ASM can be forced to consume more memory when a security policy is attached to a virtual server. The business impact is availability: affected edge security devices may become degraded under crafted network requests.
Executive priority
Prioritize remediation for internet-facing BIG-IP WAF or ASM deployments because the issue is unauthenticated and availability-focused. Treat it as a service resilience risk, especially for customer-facing applications protected by BIG-IP.
Technical view
CVE-2023-23552 is a CWE-400 resource consumption issue in BIG-IP Advanced WAF and BIG-IP ASM. The CVSS 3.1 vector is network, low complexity, unauthenticated, no user interaction, with high availability impact only.
Likely exposure
Exposure is likely where F5 BIG-IP runs affected 17.0.x, 16.1.x, 15.1.x, 14.1.x, or 13.1.x versions with an Advanced WAF or ASM security policy configured on a virtual server.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or active exploitation evidence. F5 describes the triggering requests as undisclosed, so validation should avoid assuming specific request patterns not in vendor guidance.
Researcher notes
The useful exposure predicate is module plus configuration, not BIG-IP alone. The advisory withholds request details, and the bundle provides no proof of exploitation. Version checks and configuration review are the safest validation path.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade 17.0.x systems to 17.0.0.2 or later.
- Upgrade 16.1.x systems to 16.1.3.3 or later.
- Upgrade 15.1.x systems to 15.1.8 or later.
- Upgrade 14.1.x systems to 14.1.5.3 or later.
- For 13.1.x, consult F5 guidance and plan migration from the affected branch.
Validation and detection
- Inventory BIG-IP devices and record software branch and exact version.
- Identify virtual servers with Advanced WAF or ASM security policies enabled.
- Compare deployed versions against the fixed versions named in F5 guidance.
- Review memory utilization alerts for abnormal increases on affected devices.
- Confirm remediation status through change records or platform version evidence.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-400: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2023-23552 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 7.5 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H3.93.6Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
7.5HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K17542533CVE reference
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
Uncontrolled Resource Consumption represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.