CVE-2025-36546 F5OS Appliance Mode vulnerability

Critical 9.2 Published 7 May 2025 Updated 26 Feb 2026

Attackers with root SSH keys can bypass Appliance Mode restrictions to gain unauthorized root access on F5OS systems.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Not needed
Attackable: Over the internet
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: None listed

What is CVE-2025-36546?

CVE-2025-36546 is a critical authentication bypass vulnerability in F5OS - Appliance, published on 7 May 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

On an F5OS system, if the root user had previously configured the system to allow login via SSH key-based authentication, and then enabled Appliance Mode; access via SSH key-based authentication is still allowed. For an attacker to exploit this vulnerability they must obtain the root user's SSH private key.

Note: Software versions which have reached End of Technical Support (EoTS) are not evaluated.

Weakness: CWE-863

Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-36546?

It affects 2 products.

Products include F5 F5os-A, F5 F5os-C.

How do I fix CVE-2025-36546?

No fix has been published for CVE-2025-36546 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade, and rotate credentials and sessions that may have been exposed. More about Authentication bypass.

Is CVE-2025-36546 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-36546 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Sources

Also known as GHSA-58w9-v93f-h76h.