Bug ID 1968285: Unicast addresses for DHCPv6 relay virtual servers are not allowed

Last Modified: Jun 28, 2025

Affected Product(s):
BIG-IP Install/Upgrade, LTM(all modules)

Known Affected Versions:
11.6.0, 11.6.0 HF1, 11.6.0 HF2, 11.6.0 HF3, 11.6.0 HF4, 11.6.0 HF5, 11.6.0 HF6, 11.6.0 HF7, 11.6.0 HF8, 11.6.1, 11.6.1 HF1, 11.6.1 HF2, 11.6.2, 11.6.2 HF1, 11.6.3, 11.6.3.1, 11.6.3.2, 11.6.3.3, 11.6.3.4, 11.6.4, 11.6.5, 11.6.5.1, 11.6.5.2, 11.6.5.3, 12.0.0, 12.0.0 HF1, 12.0.0 HF2, 12.0.0 HF3, 12.0.0 HF4, 12.1.0, 12.1.0 HF1, 12.1.0 HF2, 12.1.1, 12.1.1 HF1, 12.1.1 HF2, 12.1.2, 12.1.2 HF1, 12.1.2 HF2, 12.1.3, 12.1.3.1, 12.1.3.2, 12.1.3.3, 12.1.3.4, 12.1.3.5, 12.1.3.6, 12.1.3.7, 12.1.4, 12.1.4.1, 12.1.5, 12.1.5.1, 12.1.5.2, 12.1.5.3, 12.1.6, 13.0.0, 13.0.0 HF1, 13.0.0 HF2, 13.0.0 HF3, 13.0.1, 13.1.0, 13.1.0.1, 13.1.0.2, 13.1.0.3, 13.1.0.4, 13.1.0.5, 13.1.0.6, 13.1.0.7, 13.1.0.8, 13.1.1, 13.1.1.2, 13.1.1.3, 13.1.1.4, 13.1.1.5, 13.1.3, 13.1.3.1, 13.1.3.2, 13.1.3.3, 13.1.3.4, 13.1.3.5, 13.1.3.6, 13.1.4, 13.1.4.1, 13.1.5, 13.1.5.1, 14.0.0, 14.0.0.1, 14.0.0.2, 14.0.0.3, 14.0.0.4, 14.0.0.5, 14.0.1, 14.0.1.1, 14.1.0, 14.1.0.1, 14.1.0.2, 14.1.0.3, 14.1.0.5, 14.1.0.6, 14.1.2, 14.1.2.1, 14.1.2.2, 14.1.2.3, 14.1.2.4, 14.1.2.5, 14.1.2.6, 14.1.2.7, 14.1.2.8, 14.1.3, 14.1.3.1, 14.1.4, 14.1.4.1, 14.1.4.2, 14.1.4.3, 14.1.4.4, 14.1.4.5, 14.1.4.6, 14.1.5, 14.1.5.1, 14.1.5.2, 14.1.5.3, 14.1.5.4, 14.1.5.6, 15.0.0, 15.0.1, 15.0.1.1, 15.0.1.2, 15.0.1.3, 15.0.1.4, 15.1.0, 15.1.0.1, 15.1.0.2, 15.1.0.3, 15.1.0.4, 15.1.0.5, 15.1.1, 15.1.2, 15.1.2.1, 15.1.3, 15.1.3.1, 15.1.4, 15.1.4.1, 15.1.5, 15.1.5.1, 15.1.6, 15.1.6.1, 15.1.7, 15.1.8, 15.1.8.1, 15.1.8.2, 15.1.9, 15.1.9.1, 15.1.10, 15.1.10.2, 15.1.10.3, 15.1.10.4, 15.1.10.5, 15.1.10.6, 16.0.0, 16.0.0.1, 16.0.1, 16.0.1.1, 16.0.1.2, 16.1.0, 16.1.1, 16.1.2, 16.1.2.1, 16.1.2.2, 16.1.3, 16.1.3.1, 16.1.3.2, 16.1.3.3, 16.1.3.4, 16.1.3.5, 16.1.4, 16.1.4.1, 16.1.4.2, 16.1.4.3, 16.1.5, 16.1.5.1, 16.1.5.2, 16.1.6, 17.0.0, 17.0.0.1, 17.0.0.2, 17.1.0, 17.1.0.1, 17.1.0.2, 17.1.0.3, 17.1.1, 17.1.1.1, 17.1.1.2, 17.1.1.3, 17.1.1.4, 17.1.2, 17.1.2.1, 17.1.2.2

Opened: Jun 18, 2025

Severity: 3-Major

Symptoms

BIG-IP DHCPv6 relay virtual servers cannot be configured to listen to a unicast address. Affected software versions cannot therefore act as a relay for DHCPv6 requests that have already passed through another DHCPv6 relay.

Impact

Unicast DHCPv6 relay servers were previously allowed on v11.5.x. If you are running on version 11.5.x and upgrade to 12.1.0 or later, the virtual server may not function correctly.

Conditions

A unicast address is used as a destination on a DHCPv6 virtual server with a dhcpv6 profile operating in relay mode.

Workaround

You may be able to work around this issue with one of two options: 1. If you don't need to send the DHCPv6 request to all pool members and you don't need DHCP protocol inspection, you can configure a standard UDP virtual server to load-balance DHCPv6 requests amongst the available DHCPv6 pool members. 2. If you need to send the DHCPv6 request to more than one pool member or if you need DHCPv6 protocol inspection, you will need to do all of the following: a. Use a dhcpv6 profile operating in forwarding mode to allow unicast addresses to be configured on the DHCPv6 virtual server(s). b. Configure a new virtual server for each DHCPv6 server that may respond to the DHCPv6 request. There will be no address translation when operating in forwarding mode so the destination address on each virtual server must match the IPv6 address of the DHCPv6 server that will receive the request. c. Configure the DHCPv6 relay that sits before the BIG-IP system to relay to all configured virtual servers.

Fix Information

None

Behavior Change

Guides & references

K10134038: F5 Bug Tracker Filter Names and Tips