# CVE-2017-6159: Denial of service in BIG-IP LTM, AAM, AFM, Analytics, APM, ASM, DNS, GTM, Link Controller, PEM, Websafe

> An attacker can cause a denial of service by triggering a TMM restart when the MPTCP option is enabled on a virtual server.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.9 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 27 Oct 2017
- **Updated:** 17 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-4pmg-6wm7-72gm

## What is CVE-2017-6159?

CVE-2017-6159 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager, published on 27 Oct 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

F5 BIG-IP LTM, AAM, AFM, Analytics, APM, ASM, DNS, GTM, Link Controller, PEM, Websafe software version 12.0.0 to 12.1.2, 11.6.0 to 11.6.1 are vulnerable to a denial of service attack when the MPTCP option is enabled on a virtual server. Data plane is vulnerable when using the MPTCP option of a TCP profile. There is no control plane exposure. An attacker may be able to disrupt services by causing TMM to restart hence temporarily failing to process traffic.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-6159?

It affects 8 products.


Products: F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager, F5 Big-Ip Advanced Firewall Manager, F5 Big-Ip Application Acceleration Manager, F5 Big-Ip Application Security Manager, F5 Big-Ip Link Controller, F5 Big-Ip Local Traffic Manager, F5 Big-Ip Policy Enforcement Manager, F5 Big-Ip Websafe.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-6159?

No fix has been published for CVE-2017-6159 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2017-6159 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-6159 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager

- [CVE-2023-46747](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-46747/): F5 BIG-IP Configuration Utility Authentication Bypass (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-1388](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-1388/): F5 BIG-IP Missing Authentication (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2021-22986](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-22986/): F5 BIG-IP and BIG-IQ Centralized Management iControl REST Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2021-22991](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-22991/): F5 BIG-IP Traffic Management Microkernel Buffer Overflow (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-5902](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-5902/): F5 BIG-IP Traffic Management User Interface (TMUI) Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-6159 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-6159 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager, published on 27 Oct 2017. 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-2017-6159 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: F5 Big-Ip Access Policy 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-2017-6159/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-6159/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-6159
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-6159
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-6159

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-6159/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.