Vulnerability report

Exploited in the wild Confirmed confidence In CISA KEV

CVE-2023-46747

BIG-IP Remote Code Execution

F5 / BIG-IP · affected before *

Watch CVE-2023-46747 Browse KEV feed
Severity
CVSS 9.8 · Critical
Confidence
Confirmed
Exploit status
Exploited in the wild
EPSS
96.5%
First observed
—
Last observed
—

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2023-46747 is an unauthenticated vulnerability affecting F5 BIG-IP. Undisclosed requests may bypass configuration utility authentication, allowing an attacker with network access to the BIG-IP system through the...

Is it exploited?

Yes. Previdian tracks this CVE as a known exploited vulnerability. Confidence is confirmed. Listed in CISA KEV. Also confirmed by third-party sources.

Who is affected?

F5 / BIG-IP affected before *.

What should we do?

Prioritize remediation. Validate affected assets and apply vendor fixes on an accelerated timeline.

Overview

BIG-IP Remote Code Execution

Undisclosed requests may bypass configuration utility authentication, allowing an attacker with network access to the BIG-IP system through the 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

F5 Affected
BIG-IP
Before *
View vendor advisory (opens in new tab)
Published
26 Oct 2023
Exploitation Reported
31 Oct 2023
Attack vector
Remote
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None

Tags

cisa metasploit windows malware nuclei_scanner edge ransomware

CVE References

Exploitation evidence

Why Previdian marks this CVE as exploited

Third-party attestation and first-party sensor observation are shown separately so teams can judge the evidence chain.

Exploited in the wild

CISA

Recorded 31 Oct 2023

A trusted third party reported exploitation.

Used in malware

CISA

Recorded 31 Oct 2023

Malware families have been linked to exploitation of this CVE.

Proof of concept available

GitHub

Recorded 30 Oct 2023

Public scanner or PoC coverage increases practical exploitability.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the Previdian Pro API.

Learn about Pro API access
Source Added
CISA First 2023-10-31 00:00 UTC
The Shadowserver 2026-06-04 00:00 UTC
TheRegister 2026-09-23 18:21 UTC

Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

Make the evidence actionable in scanner, SOC, and edge-control workflows.

Observed signals

Request targets
User-Agents
Callback hosts
0
0
0

Request targets and User-Agents available in Pro. Callback host details available in Enterprise.

Virtual patch status

No Previdian virtual patch is currently available. Future rules ship for ModSecurity, Cloudflare, and AWS WAF.

Learn about virtual patches →

Scanner Artifacts

Scanner and exploit-framework references linked to this CVE.

Scanner Reference Detected
Metasploit https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/blob/master/modules/exploits/linux/http/f5_bigip_tmui_rce_cve_2023_46747.rb 28 Apr 2025
Nuclei https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2023/CVE-2023-46747.yaml 25 Apr 2025

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

9.8 Critical

Potential damage if exploited. Separate from whether attackers are using it.

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

EPSS

96.5%

Estimated chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Previdian's warning comes from evidence, not this score.

Weaknesses

Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel CWE-288 Missing Authentication for Critical Function CWE-306

Recent mention · SOCRadar

Operation Talked: A Russia-Linked Cyber Espionage Campaign Targeting Ukraine’s Defense Industry

Operation Talked: A Russia-Linked Cyber Espionage Campaign Targeting Ukraine's Defense Industry TL;DR: OPERATION TALKED is an ongoing Russia-linked espionage campaign, exposed after the actor left their own C2 as an open

Read full advisory

All Mentions

Recent mention · SOCRadar

Operation Talked: A Russia-Linked Cyber Espionage Campaign Targeting Ukraine’s Defense Industry

SOCRadar · 26 Sep 2026

Operation Talked: A Russia-Linked Cyber Espionage Campaign Targeting Ukraine's Defense Industry TL;DR: OPERATION TALKED is an ongoing Russia-linked espionage campaign, exposed after the actor left their own C2 as an open

Recent mention · TheRegister

Someone's attacking a critical 0-day RCE in F5 BIG-IP APM

TheRegister · 23 Sep 2026

Good news: there's a patch. Bad news: both CISA and F5 warn that it's under active exploitation

Recent mention · SOCRadar

Discernment Deleted: Inside the Operation Server of BlackHatSect0r && DXQRTXX

SOCRadar · 16 Sep 2026

Discernment Deleted: Inside the Operation Server of BlackHatSect0r && DXQRTXX A French-speaking crew deleted the line reading "discernment retained" from its AI agent's memory, wrote "I am a weapon" in its place, and poi

Recent mention · RecordedFuture

August 2026 CVE Landscape

RecordedFuture · 08 Sep 2026

In August 2026, Insikt Group® identified 73 high-impact vulnerabilities that should be prioritized for remediation, 43 of which had a Very Critical Recorded Future Risk Score. This represents a 14% decrease from last month.

Potential Proof of Concepts

These PoCs are unverified and could contain malware. Use at your own risk.

F5 BIG-IP - Unauthenticated RCE via AJP Smuggling

nuclei · Created Unknown

f5_bigip_tmui_rce_cve_2023_46747

metasploit · Created Unknown

Metasploit module for CVE-2023-46747

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. 18:21 UTC

    KEV confirmed by TheRegister

    Exploitation attested by an external source

  2. 00:00 UTC

    KEV confirmed by The Shadowserver

    Exploitation attested by an external source

  3. 15:02 UTC

    Metasploit module available

    Exploit module available

  4. 15:02 UTC

    Public PoC available

    Public proof-of-concept code published

  5. 00:00 UTC

    Nuclei template available

    Scanner coverage available

  6. 00:00 UTC

    Added to CISA KEV

    Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

  7. 00:00 UTC

    First public exploitation report

    Exploit observed in malware

  8. 20:04 UTC

    CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  9. 18:51 UTC

    CVE ID reserved

    Identifier reserved by the CNA

Pro API

Automate this intelligence

Confidence, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.

Start 14-day Pro trial Read API docs
  • Evidence confidence and provenance
  • First-party sensor telemetry
  • PoC and scanner references
  • Affected versions and enrichment
  • Automation-ready JSON delivery

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2023-46747

Sample API response 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2023-46747",
  "confidence": "Confirmed",
  "cvss_score": 9.8,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.96515,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": false
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 0, "sensors": 0 }
}