CVE-2021-22986: F5 BIG-IP and BIG-IQ Centralized Management iControl REST Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Is it exploited?

Yes. CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 3 Nov 2021, 217 days after the CVE record was published.

How likely is exploitation in the next 30 days?

99.9%

EPSS score, percentile 100 of all scored records

How severe?

9.8 Critical

CVSS v3.1 base score, from CISA's enrichment of the record

What should I do?

CISA deadline 17 Nov 2021. Apply updates per vendor instructions.

The CVE record links no vendor advisory, patch or mitigation.

Which versions are affected?

Affected

• 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…
• BIG-IQ 7.1.0.x before 7.1.0.3, 7.0.0.x before 7.0.0.2

Versions by product

Source: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, 2026.10.28, as of 28 Oct 2026; FIRST Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), v2026.06.15, as of 28 Oct 2026; CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of 28 Oct 2026. About the data.

What to do

CISA due date for this action: 17 November 2021.

Advisories and patches

The CVE record links no vendor advisory, patch or mitigation.

Linked from CISA's catalog entry

• https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-22986

Affected products and versions

As listed in the CVE record.

Source: CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of 28 Oct 2026. About the data.

About this vulnerability

F5 BIG-IP and BIG-IQ Centralized Management contain a remote code execution vulnerability in the iControl REST interface that allows unauthenticated attackers with network access to execute system commands, create or delete files, and disable services.

Summary: CISA's KEV catalog, as of 28 Oct 2026.

• CISA added CVE-2021-22986 to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 3 Nov 2021.
• CISA marks it as known to be used in ransomware campaigns.
• The due date CISA sets for the required action is 17 Nov 2021.
• The CVE record was published on 31 Mar 2021, 217 days before it was added to KEV.
• The CVE record carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (Critical), taken from CISA's enrichment of the record.
• FIRST's EPSS model puts the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 99.9% (percentile 100), as of 28 Oct 2026.
• CISA's SSVC assessment in the CVE record: exploitation active, automatable yes, technical impact total.

Source: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, 2026.10.28, as of 28 Oct 2026; CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of 28 Oct 2026; FIRST Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), v2026.06.15, as of 28 Oct 2026. About the data.

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.

Source: CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of 28 Oct 2026. About the data.

Weakness

• CWE-918: Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
• CWE-863

CWE and CAPEC are maintained by MITRE; the entries are those named in the CVE record and the KEV entry.

Timeline

References

• support.f5.com
• packetstormsecurity.com
• packetstormsecurity.com

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