NVD / CVE Program· CNA f5

CVE-2020-5916: In BIG-IP versions 15.1.0-15.1.0.4 and 15.0.0-15.0.1.3 the Certificate Administrator user role and higher privileged roles can perform arbit

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 27/100)

The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.53% (FIRST EPSS).
Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. Administrator privileges are required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
According to the record, no fixed version is available yet.

Low priority for now. Update when a fix is released; follow the vendor's advisory.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

In BIG-IP versions 15.1.0-15.1.0.4 and 15.0.0-15.0.1.3 the Certificate Administrator user role and higher privileged roles can perform arbitrary file reads outside of the web root directory.

MediumCVSS 6.8 · v3.1—No exploit No fix recorded

Published: Aug 26, 2020
Updated: Jun 16, 2026
EPSS: 0.5% · 45th percentile
CWE: CWE-269

Report tools

JSON

Action score

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS: 27 / 40 · 6.8 / 10
CISA KEV: 0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS: 0 / 30 · 0.5%

Get told when this record changes

Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
No public exploit code on record
No fixed version yet

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

Vendor	Product	CPE
f5	big-ip access policy manager	cpe:2.3:a:f5:big-ip_access_policy_manager
f5	big-ip advanced firewall manager	cpe:2.3:a:f5:big-ip_advanced_firewall_manager
f5	big-ip analytics	cpe:2.3:a:f5:big-ip_analytics
f5	big-ip application acceleration manager	cpe:2.3:a:f5:big-ip_application_acceleration_manager
f5	big-ip application security manager	cpe:2.3:a:f5:big-ip_application_security_manager
f5	big-ip ddos hybrid defender	cpe:2.3:a:f5:big-ip_ddos_hybrid_defender
f5	big-ip domain name system	cpe:2.3:a:f5:big-ip_domain_name_system
f5	big-ip fraud protection service	cpe:2.3:a:f5:big-ip_fraud_protection_service
f5	big-ip global traffic manager	cpe:2.3:a:f5:big-ip_global_traffic_manager
f5	big-ip link controller	cpe:2.3:a:f5:big-ip_link_controller
f5	big-ip local traffic manager	cpe:2.3:a:f5:big-ip_local_traffic_manager
f5	big-ip policy enforcement manager	cpe:2.3:a:f5:big-ip_policy_enforcement_manager

and 1 more

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

f5 big-ip access policy manager15.0.0 and later · before 15.0.1.4
f5 big-ip access policy manager15.1.0 and later · before 15.1.0.5
f5 big-ip advanced firewall manager15.0.0 and later · before 15.0.1.4
f5 big-ip advanced firewall manager15.1.0 and later · before 15.1.0.5
f5 big-ip analytics15.0.0 and later · before 15.0.1.4
f5 big-ip analytics15.1.0 and later · before 15.1.0.5
f5 big-ip application acceleration manager15.0.0 and later · before 15.0.1.4
f5 big-ip application acceleration manager15.1.0 and later · before 15.1.0.5
f5 big-ip application security manager15.0.0 and later · before 15.0.1.4
f5 big-ip application security manager15.1.0 and later · before 15.1.0.5
f5 big-ip ddos hybrid defender15.0.0 and later · before 15.0.1.4
f5 big-ip ddos hybrid defender15.1.0 and later · before 15.1.0.5
f5 big-ip domain name system15.0.0 and later · before 15.0.1.4
f5 big-ip domain name system15.1.0 and later · before 15.1.0.5
f5 big-ip fraud protection service15.0.0 and later · before 15.0.1.4
f5 big-ip fraud protection service15.1.0 and later · before 15.1.0.5
f5 big-ip global traffic manager15.0.0 and later · before 15.0.1.4
f5 big-ip global traffic manager15.1.0 and later · before 15.1.0.5
f5 big-ip link controller15.0.0 and later · before 15.0.1.4
f5 big-ip link controller15.1.0 and later · before 15.1.0.5

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (f5). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

n/a BIG-IP
- 15.1.0-15.1.0.4, 15.0.0-15.0.1.3affected

Same product

f5: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2022-1388On F5 BIG-IP 16.1.x versions prior to 16.1.2.2, 15.1.x versions prior to 15.1.5.1, 14.1.x versions prior to 14.1.4.6, 13.1.x versions prior KEV
99Now
CVE-2021-22986On BIG-IP versions 16.0.x before 16.0.1.1, 15.1.x before 15.1.2.1, 14.1.x before 14.1.4, 13.1.x before 13.1.3.6, and 12.1.x before 12.1.5.3 KEV
99Now
CVE-2020-5902In BIG-IP versions 15.0.0-15.1.0.3, 14.1.0-14.1.2.5, 13.1.0-13.1.3.3, 12.1.0-12.1.5.1, and 11.6.1-11.6.5.1, the Traffic Management User InteKEV
99Now

Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2020-5913Aug 26, 2020 · In versions 15.0.0-15.1.0.1, 14.1.0-14.1.2.3, 13.1.0-13.1.3.4, 12.1.0-12.1.5.1, and 11.6.1-11.6.5.2, the BIG-IP Client or Server SSL profile
29Monitor
← EarlierCVE-2020-5915Aug 26, 2020 · In BIG-IP versions 15.1.0-15.1.0.4, 15.0.0-15.0.1.3, 14.1.0-14.1.2.3, 13.1.0-13.1.3.3, 12.1.0-12.1.5.1, and 11.6.1-11.6.5.1, an undisclosed
24Monitor
Later →CVE-2020-5917Aug 26, 2020 · In BIG-IP versions 15.1.0-15.1.0.4, 15.0.0-15.0.1.3, 14.1.0-14.1.2.3, 13.1.0-13.1.3.4, 12.1.0-12.1.5.1, and 11.6.1-11.6.5.2 and BIG-IQ versi
23Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
Administrator privileges are required.
No user action is required.
No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality: high · data can be read
Integrity: none
Availability: none

Impact can extend beyond the vulnerable component (scope changes).

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: High
User interaction: None
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality impact: High
Integrity impact: None
Availability impact: None

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-269 · Improper Privilege Management

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N

nvd-primary

Root cause

To simplify setup, a service account is granted broad, cluster-wide permissions. The principle of least privilege is skipped during installation.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-269 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

yaml

1kind: ClusterRole
2rules:
3  - apiGroups: ["*"]
4    resources: ["*"]
5    verbs: ["*"]

Fixed

yaml

1kind: Role
2metadata:
3  namespace: lodos-system
4rules:
5  - apiGroups: ["apps"]
6    resources: ["deployments"]
7    verbs: ["get", "list", "update"]

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Attack patterns (CAPEC)

ATT&CK techniques

Abuse Elevation Control MechanismT1548

Change log

No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.

References

support.f5.com/csp/article/K29923912

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records