Bug ID 521828: CMI device credentials (device name or password) containing XML special charactersresults in peer discovery error

Last Modified: Sep 13, 2023

Affected Product(s):
BIG-IP All(all modules)

Known Affected Versions:
11.5.3, 11.5.4, 11.5.5, 11.5.6, 11.5.7, 11.5.8, 11.5.9, 11.5.10, 11.6.0, 11.6.1, 11.6.2, 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, 12.1.0 HF1, 12.1.0 HF2, 12.1.1 HF1, 12.1.1 HF2, 12.1.2 HF1, 12.1.2 HF2

Fixed In:
12.0.0

Opened: May 06, 2015

Severity: 3-Major

Related Article: K78693459

Symptoms

When attempting to set up CMI device credentials (device name or password), an error message can result if the device name (of the current device, or the newly specified name for the target device) or the administrator password (for the target device) contains certain characters. The error message has this format: java.io.IOException: Could not read response from server: ParseError at [row,col]:[1,225] Message: Element type 'bigip2' must be followed by either attribute specifications, '>' or '/>'.

Impact

Failure to set up CMI sync.

Conditions

The list of characters is any XML special character (less than, greater than, or ampersand).

Workaround

For the device name, these characters are illegal and a different device name should be chosen. If the current device has any of the specified characters, you can use the command 'mv cm device source-name target-name' to change the name of the device. There is no workaround if the relevant character is in the password field, except to change the password.

Fix Information

When attempting to set up CMI device credentials (device name or password), an error message would result if the device name (of the current device, or the newly specified name for the target device) or the administrator password (for the target device) contained certain characters. It is still illegal to use these characters in a device name, but the error message is now easier to understand. For the password field, this is now allowed.

Behavior Change

Guides & references

K10134038: F5 Bug Tracker Filter Names and Tips