CVE-2026-42406 PUBLISHED

BIG-IP and BIG-IQ privilege escalation vulnerability

Assigner: f5
Reserved: 30.04.2026 Published: 13.05.2026 Updated: 14.05.2026

A vulnerability exists in BIG-IP and BIG-IQ systems where a highly privileged, authenticated attacker with at least the Certificate Manager role can modify configuration objects that allow running arbitrary commands. Note: Software versions which have reached End of Technical Support (EoTS) are not evaluated.

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
CVSS Score: 8.7

Appliance Mode

Attack Vector	Network	Scope	Changed
Attack Complexity	Low	Confidentiality Impact	High
Privileges Required	High	Integrity Impact	High
User Interaction	None	Availability Impact	None

Appliance Mode

CVSS 3.1

CVSS Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
CVSS Score: 8.5

Exploitability Metrics		Vulnerable System Impact Metrics		Subsequent System Impact Metrics
Attack Vector	Network	Confidentiality	High	Confidentiality	None
Attack Complexity	Low	Integrity	High	Integrity	None
Attack Requirements	None	Availability	None	Availability	None
Privileges Required	High
User Interaction	None

CVSS 4.0

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
CVSS Score: 6.5

Attack Vector	Network	Scope	Unchanged
Attack Complexity	Low	Confidentiality Impact	High
Privileges Required	High	Integrity Impact	High
User Interaction	None	Availability Impact	None

CVSS 3.1

Product Status

Vendor	F5
Product	BIG-IP
Versions	Default: unknown unaffected from 21.1.0 to * (excl.) affected from 21.0.0 to 21.0.0.2 (excl.) affected from 17.5.0 to 17.5.1.6 (excl.) affected from 17.1.0 to 17.1.3.2 (excl.) affected from 16.1.0 to * (excl.)

Vendor	F5
Product	BIG-IQ
Versions	Default: unaffected affected from 8.4.0 to * (excl.)

Credits

F5 finder

References

https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K000160971

Problem Types

CWE-267 Privilege Defined With Unsafe Actions CWE