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NVD / CVE Program· CNA f5

CVE-2025-53521: BigIP APM Vulnerability

CriticalCVSS 9.3 · v4.0KEVWeaponized No fix recorded

Noroxi assessment

Priority: This week (action score 68/100)

  • CISA has confirmed exploitation in the wild (Mar 27, 2026). Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: Mar 30, 2026.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 2.2% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 83.5% of all records.
  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • According to CISA the attack is automatable: targets can be found by mass scanning.
  • According to the record, no fixed version is available yet.

Don’t wait for the next maintenance window. Until a fix is released, restrict access to the affected component and 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 · CISA KEV · FIRST EPSS

When a BIG-IP APM access policy is configured on a virtual server, specific malicious traffic can lead to Remote Code Execution (RCE).   Note: Software versions which have reached End of Technical Support (EoTS) are not evaluated.

Published
Oct 15, 2025
Updated
Oct 8, 2026
EPSS
2.2% · 83th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

68

This week

Don’t wait for the next maintenance window.

CVSS
37 / 40 · 9.3 / 10
CISA KEV
30 / 30 · Listed
EPSS
1 / 30 · 2.2%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
active
Automatable
yes
Technical impact
total

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
—
CNA · f5
9.8
NVD has not scored this yet; the score shown is the CNA’s.

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

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Actively exploited in the wild

CISA added this to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on Mar 27, 2026. That signals real attacks, not theory.

Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: Mar 30, 2026.

Get told when this record changes

  • In CISA KEV: exploitation in the wild confirmed
  • Weaponized exploit exists
  • No fixed version yet

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Follow CVE-2025-53521

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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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.

VendorProduct
f5big-ip access policy manager

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.

  • F5 BIG-IP

    • 17.5.0 and later · before 17.5.1.3affected
    • 17.1.0 and later · before 17.1.3affected
    • 16.1.0 and later · before 16.1.6.1affected
    • 15.1.0 and later · before 15.1.10.8affected
Affected versions · NVD (4)

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

  • f5 big-ip access policy manager15.1.0 and later · before 15.1.10.8
  • f5 big-ip access policy manager16.1.0 and later · before 16.1.6.1
  • f5 big-ip access policy manager17.1.0 and later · before 17.1.3
  • f5 big-ip access policy manager17.5.0 and later · before 17.5.1.3

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…KEV
    99Now

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2025-47148Oct 15, 2025 · BIG-IP APM and SSL Orchestrator vulnerability
    28Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2025-53474Oct 15, 2025 · BIG-IP iRules vulnerability
    34Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2025-53856Oct 15, 2025 · When a virtual server, network address translation (NAT) object, or secure network address translation (SNAT) object uses the embedded…
    34Monitor

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

Weaponized

A ready exploit tool or active in-the-wild use is known for this vulnerability. This should be your top priority.

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.

  1. Published
  2. CISA KEV+162 d
  3. TodayNov 14, 2026+395 d

Credits

All researchers

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

Variant candidates

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

Not on record for this CVE: EPSS history · patch commit or PR link · public bounty program.

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
Integrity
Availability
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
X

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-121 · Stack-based Buffer Overflow

CVSS vector

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

nvd-secondary

Attack context

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

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

References

Show all references (1 more)

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

All records