# CVE-2021-23010: Denial of service in BIG-IP ASM/Advanced WAF

> Attackers can cause a denial of service by sending WebSocket requests with JSON payloads, crashing the BIG-IP ASM process.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/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:** 10 May 2021
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-x9xh-v7jc-6xqh

## What is CVE-2021-23010?

CVE-2021-23010 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in F5 Big-Ip Application Security Manager, published on 10 May 2021. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

On versions 16.0.x before 16.0.1.1, 15.1.x before 15.1.2, 14.1.x before 14.1.3.1, 13.1.x before 13.1.3.5, and 12.1.x before 12.1.5.3, when the BIG-IP ASM/Advanced WAF system processes WebSocket requests with JSON payloads using the default JSON Content Profile in the ASM Security Policy, the BIG-IP ASM bd process may produce a core file. Note: Software versions which have reached End of Technical Support (EoTS) are not evaluated.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-23010?

It affects 1 product.


Products: F5 Big-Ip Application Security Manager.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-23010?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-23010 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-23010 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-23010 in the wild and no public exploit code.

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

- [CVE-2019-6665](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-6665/): Other in BIG-IP ASM (critical 9.4)
- [CVE-2019-6650](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-6650/): Information disclosure in BIG-IP ASM (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2025-24326](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-24326/): BIG-IP Advanced WAF/ASM BADoS vulnerability (high 8.9)
- [CVE-2025-55669](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-55669/): BIG-IP HTTP/2 vulnerability (high 8.7)
- [CVE-2009-4420](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-4420/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-23010 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-23010 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in F5 Big-Ip Application Security Manager, published on 10 May 2021. 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-2021-23010 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: F5 Big-Ip Application Security 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-2021-23010/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-23010/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-23010
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-23010
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-23010

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-23010/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.