Bug ID 789857: "TCP half open' reports drops made by LTM syn-cookies mitigation.

Last Modified: Jul 12, 2023

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

Known Affected Versions:
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, 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

Fixed In:
15.1.1, 14.1.4

Opened: Jun 04, 2019

Severity: 3-Major

Symptoms

'TCP half open' reports drops in logs/tmctl/AVR even though it is configured in detect-only mode.

Impact

It will appear that 'TCP half open' is doing mitigation, but it is actually LTM syn-cookies dropping the connections.

Conditions

-- 'TCP half open' attack is being actively detected. -- LTM syn-cookie mitigation is enabled. -- This is triggered when LTM syn-cookies mitigation begins.

Workaround

If LTM syn-cookies are not needed, disable the option: modify ltm global-settings connection default-vs-syn-challenge-threshold infinite global-syn-challenge-threshold infinite

Fix Information

None

Behavior Change

Guides & references

K10134038: F5 Bug Tracker Filter Names and Tips