What is CVE-2020-5902?

CVE-2020-5902 is a critical-severity vulnerability in F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager, classified under Path Traversal. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2020-07-01.

How severe is CVE-2020-5902?

Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.

Is CVE-2020-5902 known to be exploited?

Yes. CVE-2020-5902 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-03), indicating it is being actively exploited. 293 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed.

Path Traversal in F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager

CVE-2020-5902

In BIG-IP versions 15.0.0-15.1.0.3, 14.1.0-14.1.2.5, 13.1.0-13.1.3.3, 12.1.0-12.1.5.1, and 11.6.1-11.6.5.1, the Traffic Management User Interface (TMUI), also referred to as the Configuration utility, has a Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability in undisclosed pages.

Vulnerability class: Path Traversal (Directory Traversal)

Published 2020-07-01 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 1.000 (100.0th percentile), scored 2026-06-15.

Very high probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — among the top 0.1% most-likely-to-be-exploited CVEs. 100th percentile — 100.0% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

The 30-day trend appears once there are two daily scores.

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-22 — Path Traversal

CISA KEV (Known Exploited Vulnerabilities)

This CVE is on the CISA KEV catalog, added on 2021-11-03. CISA KEV inclusion means CISA has confirmed in-the-wild exploitation; US federal agencies are required to remediate within a published due date.

BOD 22-01 due date: 2022-05-03.

Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Known ransomware campaign use: yes.

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

support.f5.com/csp/article/K52145254 (Vendor Advisory)
packetstormsecurity.com/files/158333/BIG-IP-TMUI-Remote-Code-Execution.html (Exploit, VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)
packetstormsecurity.com/files/158334/BIG-IP-TMUI-Remote-Code-Execution.html (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)
packetstormsecurity.com/files/158366/F5-BIG-IP-TMUI-Directory-Traversal-File-Up… (Exploit, VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)
www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/290915 (US Government Resource, Third Party Advisory, third-party-advisory)
www.criticalstart.com/f5-big-ip-remote-code-execution-exploit/ (Exploit, Third Party Advisory)
badpackets.net/over-3000-f5-big-ip-endpoints-vulnerable-to-cve-2020-5902/ (Exploit, Third Party Advisory)
packetstormsecurity.com/files/158414/Checker-CVE-2020-5902.html (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)
github.com/Critical-Start/Team-Ares/tree/master/CVE-2020-5902 (Exploit, Third Party Advisory, Broken Link)
packetstormsecurity.com/files/158581/F5-Big-IP-13.1.3-Build-0.0.6-Local-File-In… (Exploit, VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2020-5902?: CVE-2020-5902 is a critical-severity vulnerability in F5 Big-Ip Access Policy Manager, classified under Path Traversal. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2020-07-01.
How severe is CVE-2020-5902?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.
Is CVE-2020-5902 known to be exploited?: Yes. CVE-2020-5902 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-03), indicating it is being actively exploited. 293 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed.