# CVE-2017-6160: Denial of service in BIG-IP AAM, PEM

> Remote attackers can cause a denial of service by sending crafted HTTP requests to systems with specific AAM or PEM profiles enabled.

- **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:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-ggm9-mvqx-95xh

## What is CVE-2017-6160?

CVE-2017-6160 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in F5 Big-Ip Application Acceleration 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

In F5 BIG-IP AAM and PEM software version 12.0.0 to 12.1.1, 11.6.0 to 11.6.1, 11.4.1 to 11.5.4, a remote attacker may create maliciously crafted HTTP request to cause Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM) to restart and temporarily fail to process traffic. This issue is exposed on virtual servers using a Policy Enforcement profile or a Web Acceleration profile. Systems that do not have BIG-IP AAM module provisioned are not vulnerable. The Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM) may restart and temporarily fail to process traffic. Systems that do not have BIG-IP AAM or PEM module provisioned are not vulnerable.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-6160?

It affects 2 products.


Products: F5 Big-Ip Application Acceleration Manager, F5 Big-Ip Policy Enforcement Manager.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-6160?

No fix has been published for CVE-2017-6160 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2017-6160 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-6160 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in F5 Big-Ip Application Acceleration Manager

- [CVE-2018-15331](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-15331/): Privilege escalation in BIG-IP (AAM) (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2019-6601](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-6601/): Privilege escalation in BIG-IP (AAM) (medium 5.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-6160 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-6160 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in F5 Big-Ip Application Acceleration 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-2017-6160 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: F5 Big-Ip Application Acceleration 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-2017-6160/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-6160/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-6160
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-6160
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-6160

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-6160/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.