⚠ Reference material — not professional advice. Test in staging, back up first, verify against your specific version. Use your own judgment for your environment.
● High · CVSS 8.8 ⚠ ACTIVELY EXPLOITED — CISA KEV

How to Fix CVE-2023-46748: SQL Injection in BIG-IP

Other vulnerabilities in the same area that are worth patching alongside this one:

*By Sai Kiran Pandrala*

⚡ At a glance
SeverityCVSS 8.8 - High
Actively exploited?Yes, listed in CISA KEV (added 2023-10-31)
Affected17.1.0 < *, 16.1.0 < *, 15.1.0 < *, 14.1.0 < *, 13.1.0 < *
Fixed inSee vendor advisory
Type (CWE)CWE-89: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection')
Patch immediately. CISA's KEV listing means active exploitation is confirmed. Federal agencies must remediate by 2023-11-21.

What is CVE-2023-46748?

CVE-2023-46748 is a SQL injection flaw in BIG-IP. User input reaches a database query without proper parameterization, letting an attacker read, modify, or in some cases execute commands through stacked queries or out-of-band channels. Vendor description: An authenticated SQL injection vulnerability exists in the BIG-IP Configuration utility which may allow an authenticated attacker with network access to the Configuration utility through the BIG-IP management port and/or self IP addresses to execute arbitrary system commands. Note: Software versions which have reached End of Technical Support (EoTS) are not evaluated

Why this CVE matters

SQL injection against a management product is rarely just a data leak. Once an attacker can read or write to the application database, the chain commonly ends with credential theft, persistence via scheduled tasks, or stacked queries that pivot into the operating system.

For deployments of BIG-IP that have been exposed to the public internet during the disclosure window, the operating assumption should be that scanning has already happened. Confirmed in-the-wild exploitation makes that assumption mandatory, not cautious. Patching closes the door; log review and credential rotation close out the rest of the response.

Am I affected?

You are affected if your installation matches any of these version ranges:

Check your installed version against the list above. If you cannot determine the version, treat the system as affected and follow the upgrade path below.

On BIG-IP, run tmsh show sys version from the CLI. The Active Version line is the value to compare against the advisory.

How to fix CVE-2023-46748

  1. Read the vendor advisory in full: https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K000137365
  2. Upgrade BIG-IP to the patched build listed in the vendor advisory.
  3. Back up the configuration (and database, where applicable) before upgrading.
  4. Rotate any credentials, API keys, or session tokens that the vulnerable service touched. An unauthenticated RCE-class flaw means anything the process could see should be treated as exposed.
  5. Apply the patch in a maintenance window. For HA pairs, upgrade the standby node first, fail over, then upgrade the former primary.
  6. Restart the affected service so the patched binary loads, then verify the new version (see verification section).

Upgrade big-ip / f5 to the patched release


# Confirm the running version
tmsh show sys version

# Download the patched image from the F5 advisory: https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K000137365
tmsh save sys ucs /var/local/ucs/pre-patch.ucs
tmsh install sys software image BIGIP-<patched-version>.iso volume HD1.2
tmsh modify sys software volume HD1.2 active
reboot

# Post-reboot
tmsh show sys version

Verify the fix landed


# 1. Confirm the running version matches the fixed-in version from the advisory:
#    https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K000137365
#    Use the platform-specific version probe above.

# 2. Re-scan with your vulnerability scanner (Nessus, Qualys, Tenable, OpenVAS).
#    The scanner should no longer flag CVE-2023-46748 on the patched target.

# 3. Inspect recent service / kernel logs for crash loops or rollback events.
journalctl -u <service> --since "10 minutes ago"
dmesg --since "10 minutes ago"

If you cannot patch immediately

Front the affected endpoint with a WAF rule that blocks SQL metacharacters in the vulnerable parameters. This is a stopgap, not a fix. Patch promptly.

How to verify the fix worked

If your installation was internet-reachable during the disclosure window, treat log review as part of the remediation rather than an optional follow-up. Look for unexpected administrator accounts in BIG-IP, scheduled tasks or cron jobs you did not create, new files in web-accessible directories, and outbound connections to addresses not in your baseline. Suspicious requests to the vulnerable endpoint immediately followed by successful 200-class responses with unusually large bodies are a strong indicator of exploitation. Because BIG-IP sits on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog for this CVE, defenders should also pull the IOC list from the vendor advisory and from CISA's analysis if one was published.

Frequently asked questions

Is CVE-2023-46748 being exploited in the wild?

Yes. CISA added CVE-2023-46748 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which means active exploitation has been confirmed by federal observation or credible vendor reporting.

Will a WAF or IDS rule fully mitigate CVE-2023-46748?

No. Network-layer filters can reduce noise and slow opportunistic scanners, but they will not stop a determined attacker. The vendor patch is the only durable fix.

Do I need to assume compromise if my BIG-IP was internet-facing and unpatched?

For an unauthenticated RCE-class flaw exposed to the public internet during the known exploitation window, yes. Review logs, rotate credentials the process could access, and look for unexpected accounts, scheduled tasks, or outbound connections.

References

*This guide was assembled from the official vendor advisory, the NVD record, and the CISA KEV catalog entry on 2026-05-25. Always confirm against the vendor advisory before applying changes in production.*