# CVE-2017-6143: Security feature bypass in BIG-IP (AFM, ASM)

> Attackers can bypass X509 certificate verification in IP Intelligence features, allowing man-in-the-middle attacks against F5 BIG-IP devices.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.4 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 13 Apr 2018
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-p7pq-m3xx-w733

## What is CVE-2017-6143?

CVE-2017-6143 is a medium-severity vulnerability in F5 Big-Ip Advanced Firewall Manager, published on 13 Apr 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

X509 certificate verification was not correctly implemented in the IP Intelligence Subscription and IP Intelligence feed-list features, and thus the remote server's identity is not properly validated in F5 BIG-IP 12.0.0-12.1.2, 11.6.0-11.6.2, or 11.5.0-11.5.5.

Weakness: CWE-295 (Improper Certificate Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-6143?

It affects 2 products.


Products: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Firewall Manager, F5 Big-Ip Application Security Manager.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-6143?

No fix has been published for CVE-2017-6143 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2017-6143 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-6143 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in F5 Big-Ip Advanced Firewall Manager

- [CVE-2021-23040](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-23040/): SQL injection in BIG-IP AFM (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2025-59478](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-59478/): BIG-IP AFM DoS protection profile vulnerability (high 8.7)
- [CVE-2025-24312](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-24312/): BIG-IP AFM vulnerability (high 8.7)
- [CVE-2019-6636](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-6636/): Cross-site scripting in BIG-IP (AFM, ASM) (high 8.4)
- [CVE-2024-21763](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-21763/): BIG-IP AFM vulnerability (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-6143 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-6143 is a medium-severity vulnerability in F5 Big-Ip Advanced Firewall Manager, published on 13 Apr 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-6143 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: F5 Big-Ip Advanced Firewall Manager. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-6143/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-6143/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-6143
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-6143
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-6143

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-6143/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.