CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2018-5536

Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime

Published: Jul 25, 2018 | Modified: Oct 03, 2019
CVSS 3.x
7.5
HIGH
Source:
NVD
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS 2.x
5 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu

A remote attacker via undisclosed measures, may be able to exploit an F5 BIG-IP APM 13.0.0-13.1.0.7 or 12.1.0-12.1.3.5 virtual server configured with an APM per-request policy object and cause a memory leak in the APM module.

Weakness

The product does not release a resource after its effective lifetime has ended, i.e., after the resource is no longer needed.

Affected Software

Name Vendor Start Version End Version
Big-ip_access_policy_manager F5 12.1.0 (including) 12.1.3.5 (including)
Big-ip_access_policy_manager F5 13.0.0 (including) 13.1.0.7 (including)
Big-ip_access_policy_manager F5 14.0.0 (including) 14.0.0 (including)

Potential Mitigations

  • Use a language that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
  • For example, languages such as Java, Ruby, and Lisp perform automatic garbage collection that releases memory for objects that have been deallocated.
  • Use resource-limiting settings provided by the operating system or environment. For example, when managing system resources in POSIX, setrlimit() can be used to set limits for certain types of resources, and getrlimit() can determine how many resources are available. However, these functions are not available on all operating systems.
  • When the current levels get close to the maximum that is defined for the application (see CWE-770), then limit the allocation of further resources to privileged users; alternately, begin releasing resources for less-privileged users. While this mitigation may protect the system from attack, it will not necessarily stop attackers from adversely impacting other users.
  • Ensure that the application performs the appropriate error checks and error handling in case resources become unavailable (CWE-703).

References