# CVE-2018-15321: Privilege escalation in BIG-IP (LTM, AAM, AFM, Analytics, APM, ASM, DNS, Edge Gateway, FPS, GTM, Link Controller, PEM, WebAccelerator), BIG-IQ Centralized Management, BIG-IQ Cloud and Orchestration, iWorkflow, Enterprise Manager

> Privileged users can bypass Appliance Mode restrictions to overwrite critical system files, requiring Appliance Mode licensing and TMSH access.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.9 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 31 Oct 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-h4wp-5c5q-58qf

## What is CVE-2018-15321?

CVE-2018-15321 is a medium-severity vulnerability in F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager, published on 31 Oct 2018. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

When BIG-IP 14.0.0-14.0.0.2, 13.0.0-13.1.0.5, 12.1.0-12.1.3.5, 11.6.0-11.6.3.2, or 11.2.1-11.5.6, BIG-IQ Centralized Management 5.0.0-5.4.0 or 4.6.0, BIG-IQ Cloud and Orchestration 1.0.0, iWorkflow 2.1.0-2.3.0, or Enterprise Manager 3.1.1 is licensed for Appliance Mode, Admin and Resource administrator roles can by-pass BIG-IP Appliance Mode restrictions to overwrite critical system files. Attackers of high privilege level are able to overwrite critical system files which bypasses security controls in place to limit TMSH commands. This is possible with an administrator or resource administrator roles when granted TMSH. Resource administrator roles must have TMSH access in order to perform this attack.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-15321?

It affects 17 products.


Products: F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager, F5 Big-Ip Advanced Firewall Manager, F5 Big-Ip Analytics, F5 Big-Ip Application Acceleration Manager, F5 Big-Ip Domain Name System, F5 Big-Ip Edge Gateway, F5 Big-Ip Fraud Protection Service, F5 Big-Ip Global Traffic Manager, F5 Big-Ip Link Controller, F5 Big-Ip Local Traffic Manager, F5 Big-Ip Policy Enforcement Manager, F5 Big-Ip Protocol Security Module, F5 Big-Ip Webaccelerator, F5 Big-Iq Centralized Management, F5 Big-Iq Cloud and Orchestration, F5 Enterprise Manager, F5 Iworkflow.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-15321?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-15321 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-15321 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-15321 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-2018-15321 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-15321 is a medium-severity vulnerability in F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager, published on 31 Oct 2018. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-15321 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-2018-15321/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-15321/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-15321
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-15321
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-15321

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-15321/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.