CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2021-22974

Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition')

Published: Feb 12, 2021 | Modified: Feb 19, 2021
CVSS 3.x
7.5
HIGH
Source:
NVD
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS 2.x
6 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:P
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu

On BIG-IP version 16.0.x before 16.0.1.1, 15.1.x before 15.1.2, 14.1.x before 14.1.3.1, and 13.1.x before 13.1.3.6 and all versions of BIG-IQ 7.x and 6.x, an authenticated attacker with access to iControl REST over the control plane may be able to take advantage of a race condition to execute commands with an elevated privilege level. This vulnerability is due to an incomplete fix for CVE-2017-6167. Note: Software versions which have reached End of Software Development (EoSD) are not evaluated.

Weakness

The product contains a code sequence that can run concurrently with other code, and the code sequence requires temporary, exclusive access to a shared resource, but a timing window exists in which the shared resource can be modified by another code sequence that is operating concurrently.

Affected Software

Name Vendor Start Version End Version
Big-ip_access_policy_manager F5 13.1.0 (including) 13.1.3.6 (excluding)
Big-ip_access_policy_manager F5 14.1.0 (including) 14.1.3.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_access_policy_manager F5 15.1.0 (including) 15.1.2 (excluding)
Big-ip_access_policy_manager F5 16.0.0 (including) 16.0.1.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_advanced_firewall_manager F5 13.1.0 (including) 13.1.3.5 (excluding)
Big-ip_advanced_firewall_manager F5 14.1.0 (including) 14.1.3.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_advanced_firewall_manager F5 15.1.0 (including) 15.1.2 (excluding)
Big-ip_advanced_firewall_manager F5 16.0.0 (including) 16.0.1.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_advanced_web_application_firewall F5 13.1.0 (including) 13.1.3.6 (excluding)
Big-ip_advanced_web_application_firewall F5 14.1.0 (including) 14.1.3.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_advanced_web_application_firewall F5 15.1.0 (including) 15.1.2 (excluding)
Big-ip_advanced_web_application_firewall F5 16.0.0 (including) 16.0.1.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_analytics F5 13.1.0 (including) 13.1.3.6 (excluding)
Big-ip_analytics F5 14.1.0 (including) 14.1.3.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_analytics F5 15.1.0 (including) 15.1.2 (excluding)
Big-ip_analytics F5 16.0.0 (including) 16.0.1.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_application_acceleration_manager F5 13.1.0 (including) 13.1.3.6 (excluding)
Big-ip_application_acceleration_manager F5 14.1.0 (including) 14.1.3.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_application_acceleration_manager F5 15.1.0 (including) 15.1.2 (excluding)
Big-ip_application_acceleration_manager F5 16.0.0 (including) 16.0.1.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_application_security_manager F5 13.1.0 (including) 13.1.3.6 (excluding)
Big-ip_application_security_manager F5 14.1.0 (including) 14.1.3.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_application_security_manager F5 15.1.0 (including) 15.1.2 (excluding)
Big-ip_application_security_manager F5 16.0.0 (including) 16.0.1.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_ddos_hybrid_defender F5 13.1.0 (including) 13.1.3.6 (excluding)
Big-ip_ddos_hybrid_defender F5 14.1.0 (including) 14.1.3.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_ddos_hybrid_defender F5 15.1.0 (including) 15.1.2 (excluding)
Big-ip_ddos_hybrid_defender F5 16.0.0 (including) 16.0.1.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_domain_name_system F5 13.1.0 (including) 13.1.3.6 (excluding)
Big-ip_domain_name_system F5 14.1.0 (including) 14.1.3.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_domain_name_system F5 15.1.0 (including) 15.1.2 (excluding)
Big-ip_domain_name_system F5 16.0.0 (including) 16.0.1.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_fraud_protection_service F5 13.1.0 (including) 13.1.3.5 (excluding)
Big-ip_fraud_protection_service F5 14.1.0 (including) 14.1.3.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_fraud_protection_service F5 15.1.0 (including) 15.1.2 (excluding)
Big-ip_fraud_protection_service F5 16.0.0 (including) 16.0.1.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_global_traffic_manager F5 13.1.0 (including) 13.1.3.6 (excluding)
Big-ip_global_traffic_manager F5 14.1.0 (including) 14.1.3.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_global_traffic_manager F5 15.1.0 (including) 15.1.2 (excluding)
Big-ip_global_traffic_manager F5 16.0.0 (including) 16.0.1.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_link_controller F5 13.1.0 (including) 13.1.3.6 (excluding)
Big-ip_link_controller F5 14.1.0 (including) 14.1.3.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_link_controller F5 15.1.0 (including) 15.1.2 (excluding)
Big-ip_link_controller F5 16.0.0 (including) 16.0.1.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_local_traffic_manager F5 13.1.0 (including) 13.1.3.6 (excluding)
Big-ip_local_traffic_manager F5 14.1.0 (including) 14.1.3.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_local_traffic_manager F5 15.1.0 (including) 15.1.2 (excluding)
Big-ip_local_traffic_manager F5 16.0.0 (including) 16.0.1.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_policy_enforcement_manager F5 13.1.0 (including) 13.1.3.6 (excluding)
Big-ip_policy_enforcement_manager F5 14.1.0 (including) 14.1.3.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_policy_enforcement_manager F5 15.1.0 (including) 15.1.2 (excluding)
Big-ip_policy_enforcement_manager F5 16.0.0 (including) 16.0.1.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_ssl_orchestrator F5 13.1.0 (including) 13.1.3.6 (excluding)
Big-ip_ssl_orchestrator F5 14.1.0 (including) 14.1.3.1 (excluding)
Big-ip_ssl_orchestrator F5 15.1.0 (including) 15.1.2 (excluding)
Big-ip_ssl_orchestrator F5 16.0.0 (including) 16.0.1.1 (excluding)
Big-iq_centralized_management F5 6.0.0 (including) 6.1.0 (including)
Big-iq_centralized_management F5 7.0.0 (including) 7.1.0 (including)

Extended Description

This can have security implications when the expected synchronization is in security-critical code, such as recording whether a user is authenticated or modifying important state information that should not be influenced by an outsider. A race condition occurs within concurrent environments, and is effectively a property of a code sequence. Depending on the context, a code sequence may be in the form of a function call, a small number of instructions, a series of program invocations, etc. A race condition violates these properties, which are closely related:

A race condition exists when an “interfering code sequence” can still access the shared resource, violating exclusivity. Programmers may assume that certain code sequences execute too quickly to be affected by an interfering code sequence; when they are not, this violates atomicity. For example, the single “x++” statement may appear atomic at the code layer, but it is actually non-atomic at the instruction layer, since it involves a read (the original value of x), followed by a computation (x+1), followed by a write (save the result to x). The interfering code sequence could be “trusted” or “untrusted.” A trusted interfering code sequence occurs within the product; it cannot be modified by the attacker, and it can only be invoked indirectly. An untrusted interfering code sequence can be authored directly by the attacker, and typically it is external to the vulnerable product.

Potential Mitigations

  • Minimize the usage of shared resources in order to remove as much complexity as possible from the control flow and to reduce the likelihood of unexpected conditions occurring.
  • Additionally, this will minimize the amount of synchronization necessary and may even help to reduce the likelihood of a denial of service where an attacker may be able to repeatedly trigger a critical section (CWE-400).

References