Overview
The CVE-2025-35995 vulnerability pertains to the BIG-IP Policy Enforcement Manager (PEM) system. When a PEM system is licensed with URL categorization and a policy or an iRule with the urlcat command is enabled, undisclosed requests can cause the Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM) to terminate. This vulnerability can potentially lead to a system compromise or data leakage, affecting any organization that employs the BIG-IP PEM system.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-35995
Severity: High (7.5)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
BIG-IP PEM System | Versions with URL categorization licensed
How the Exploit Works
The exploit takes advantage of the BIG-IP PEM system when URL categorization is licensed and enabled. Through undisclosed requests, an attacker can trigger the termination of the Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM). This termination can cause system instability or failure, potentially providing an opportunity for system compromise or data leakage.
Conceptual Example Code
This conceptual example demonstrates how an attacker might use an undisclosed request to exploit the vulnerability. In this case, the “malicious_payload” represents an undisclosed request that can trigger the TMM to terminate.
POST /urlcat/command HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/json
{ "malicious_payload": "undisclosed_request" }Mitigation Guidance
Organizations are advised to apply the vendor patch to address this vulnerability. As a temporary mitigation, a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can be used to monitor and block suspicious requests that might exploit this vulnerability. It’s also recommended to disable the urlcat command on the virtual server until the patch is applied.
