Actively exploited in the wild

F5 BIG-IP and BIG-IQ Centralized Management iControl REST Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

F5 - BIG-IP and BIG-IQ Centralized Management · Listed in the CISA KEV since 2021-11-03. This indicates confirmed attacks in production environments.

Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

CVE-2021-22986

CriticalCVSS 9.8KEV

Published: 31/03/2021(UTC)Updated: 17/06/2026(UTC)Translated: 18/09/2026(UTC)NVD NIST

Summary

On 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 and BIG-IQ 7.1.0.x before 7.1.0.3 and 7.0.0.x before 7.0.0.2, the iControl REST interface has an unauthenticated remote command execution vulnerability.

Risk Assessment

An unauthenticated attacker can remotely execute arbitrary commands on a BIG-IP or BIG-IQ device, leading to full compromise of the edge device. This may result in takeover of network traffic control and access to protected resources.

Recommendation

Immediately update BIG-IP to version 16.0.1.1, 15.1.2.1, 14.1.4, 13.1.3.6, or 12.1.5.3 (or later) and BIG-IQ to 7.1.0.3 or 7.0.0.2 (or later). Restrict access to the iControl REST interface from untrusted networks.

Other vulnerabilities in F5 BIG-IP / BIG-IQ

CVE-2026-32643High
A vulnerability in BIG-IP and BIG-IQ systems allows a highly privileged, authenticated attacker with at least the Certificate Manager role to modify configuration objects, enabling arbitrary command execution.

Original NVD description (English source)

On 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 amd BIG-IQ 7.1.0.x before 7.1.0.3 and 7.0.0.x before 7.0.0.2, the iControl REST interface has an unauthenticated remote command execution vulnerability. Note: Software versions which have reached End of Software Development (EoSD) are not evaluated.