What is the F5 303 BIG-IP ASM Specialist exam?

Exam 303 is F5's BIG-IP ASM Specialist (Technology Specialist level) certification exam. Passing it earns the F5 Certified Technology Specialist, BIG-IP ASM (F5-CTS, BIG-IP ASM) credential, which verifies that you can design, implement, and maintain BIG-IP ASM (F5's web application firewall) and integrate it with other platforms in an application-specific way.

What are the prerequisites for the F5 303 exam?

You must hold a valid F5 Certified BIG-IP Administrator (F5-CA) certification before attempting exam 303. F5 also recommends at least a year of hands-on experience delivering highly available, secure, and scalable applications with ASM.

How much does the F5 303 exam cost and how long is it?

The 303 exam costs US$180 and has a 90-minute time limit. It is delivered as a test-center proctored exam through F5's testing partners (Pearson VUE and Certiverse). A separate practice test is available for US$20.

What is the passing score for the F5 303 exam?

The passing score for exam 303 is 245, as listed on F5's official exam page.

What topics does the F5 303 blueprint cover?

The blueprint has four sections: (1) Architecture/Design and Policy Creation, (2) Policy Maintenance and Optimization, (3) Review Event Logs and Mitigate Attacks, and (4) Troubleshoot. Topics include the OWASP Top Ten, Policy Builder, attack signatures, DataGuard, CSRF and anomaly protection, third-party scanner integration, logging, PCI compliance reporting, and policy import/export/merge/revert.

What is the retake policy if I fail the F5 303 exam?

F5 enforces a waiting period after failed attempts: 15 days after the first failure, 30 days after the second, 45 days after the third, and 90 days after the fourth and subsequent failures. Passing the exam resets the retake count. Each attempt must be scheduled and paid for separately.

What certification does passing 303 lead to next?

The F5-CTS, BIG-IP ASM certification is a prerequisite for F5's Security Solutions Expert certification track. Combined with the LTM and APM specialist certifications, it feeds into the F5 Certified Solutions Expert, Security credential.

Which F5 course prepares me for the 303 exam?

F5 recommends the 'Configuring BIG-IP Advanced WAF' course (available self-directed or instructor-led) plus the official 303 exam blueprint and the F5 303 practice test.

BIG-IP ASM Specialist Practice Test

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Exam Information

Official specifications published by F5

Exam Format

Duration90 min

Questions80

Passing Score245

LevelTechnology Specialist

Registration

Exam Fee$180 USD

DeliveryPearson VUE, Certiverse

Validity

Valid ForF5 certifications are valid for a fixed term and must be renewed (see F5 recertification policy).

RecertificationRenew/extend via F5 recertification (see F5 Education Services policy)

303 Exam Topics and Domains

303 is organized into 4 weighted domains.

ARCHITECTURE/DESIGN AND POLICY CREATION

25%

Explain the potential effects of common attacks on web applications

Understand and describe how the ASM can affect clients and applications directly while in either transparent or blocking modeSummarize the OWASP Top Ten

Objectives

Explain the potential effects of common attacks on web applications

Explain how specific security policies mitigate various web application attacks

Understand/interpret an iRule or LTM policy to map application traffic to an ASM policyExplain the trade-offs between security, manageability, false positives, and performance

Objectives

Explain how specific security policies mitigate various web application attacks

Determine the appropriate policy features and granularity for a given set of requirements

Understand application (security) requirements and convert requirements to technical tasks

Objectives

Determine the appropriate policy features and granularity for a given set of requirements

Determine which deployment method is most appropriate for a given set of requirements

Determine which deployment method is most appropriate given the circumstances (web services, vulnerability scanner, templates, rapid deployment model)

Objectives

Determine which deployment method is most appropriate for a given set of requirements

Explain the automatic policy builder lifecycle

Create any profiles required to support the policy deployment (xml, JSON, logging profiles)Implement anomaly detection appropriate to the web app (D/DoS protection, brute force attack, web scraping, proactive bot defense)

Objectives

Explain the automatic policy builder lifecycle

Review and evaluate policy settings based on information gathered from ASM (attack signatures, DataGuard, entities)

Configure initial policy building settings (automatic policy builder settings)

Objectives

Review and evaluate policy settings based on information gathered from ASM (attack signatures, DataGuard, entities)

Define appropriate policy structure for policy elements

Define appropriate policy structure for policy elements (URLs, parameters, file types, headers, sessions and logins, content profiles, CSRF protection, anomaly detection, DataGuard, proactive bot defense)

Objectives

Define appropriate policy structure for policy elements

Explain options and potential results within the deployment wizard

Describe options within the deployment wizard (deployment method, attack signatures, virtual server, learning methodSelect the appropriate ASM deployment model given the business requirements

Objectives

Explain options and potential results within the deployment wizard

Explain available logging options

Explain the specifications of the remote logger (ports, types of logs, formats, address)

Objectives

Explain available logging options

Describe the management of the attack signature lifecycle and select the appropriate attack signatures or signature sets

Understand management of attack signature lifecycle (staging, enforcement readiness period) and select appropriate attack signatures or signature sets

Objectives

Describe the management of the attack signature lifecycle and select the appropriate attack signatures or signature sets

POLICY MAINTENANCE AND OPTIMIZATION

25%

Evaluate the implications of changes in the policy to the security and functionality of the application

Evaluate whether the rules are being implemented effectively and appropriately to meet security and/or compliance requirements and make changes as appropriate

Objectives

Evaluate the implications of changes in the policy to the security and functionality of the application

Explain the process to integrate natively supported third party vulnerability scan output and generic formats with ASM

Refine appropriate policy structure for policy elements (URLs, parameters, file types, headers, sessions and logins, content profiles, CSRF protection, anomaly protection)Explain how to manage policies using import, export, merge, and revert

Objectives

Explain the process to integrate natively supported third party vulnerability scan output and generic formats with ASM

Evaluate whether rules are being implemented effectively and appropriately to mitigate violations

Evaluate the implications of changes in the policy to the security and vulnerabilities of the application

Objectives

Evaluate whether rules are being implemented effectively and appropriately to mitigate violations

Determine how a policy should be adjusted based upon available data

Tune an ASM policy for better performance, including use of wildcards to improve efficiency

Objectives

Determine how a policy should be adjusted based upon available data

Define the ASM policy management functions

Identify the status of the policyDefine the violation types that exist in ASMDescribe how to merge and differentiate between policies

Objectives

Define the ASM policy management functions

REVIEW EVENT LOGS AND MITIGATE ATTACKS

25%

Interpret log entries and identify opportunities to refine the policy

Examine traffic violations, determine if any attack traffic was permitted through the ASM and modify the policy to remove false positivesLocate and interpret reported security violations by end users and application developers

Objectives

Interpret log entries and identify opportunities to refine the policy

Given an ASM report, identify trends in support of security objectives

Understand and describe each major violation category and how ASM detects common exploitsGenerate reporting for the ASM system and review the contents of the reports (anomaly statistics, charts, requests, PCI compliance status)

Objectives

Given an ASM report, identify trends in support of security objectives

Determine the appropriate mitigation for a given attack or vulnerability

Take appropriate action on reported security violations by end users and application developersModify ASM policy to adapt to attacks

Objectives

Determine the appropriate mitigation for a given attack or vulnerability

Decide the appropriate method for determining the success of attack mitigation

Choose an appropriate user defined attack signature to respond to particular traffic

Objectives

Decide the appropriate method for determining the success of attack mitigation

TROUBLESHOOT

25%

Evaluate ASM policy performance issues and determine appropriate mitigation strategies

Analyze performance graphs and statistics along with ASM configurations to determine the root cause of performance issues and appropriate remediation to the configuration based on Guaranteed Logging

Objectives

Evaluate ASM policy performance issues and determine appropriate mitigation strategies

Understand the impact of learning, alarm, and blocking settings on traffic enforcement

Ensure that the security policy is inspecting web application traffic (application is functional and the policies are parsing the traffic)

Objectives

Understand the impact of learning, alarm, and blocking settings on traffic enforcement

Examine policy objects to determine why traffic is or is not generating violations

Examine Security Event Logs and ASM configurations to determine expected violations based on the logging profile assigned to the virtual server

Objectives

Examine policy objects to determine why traffic is or is not generating violations

Identify and interpret ASM performance metrics

Understand the impact of ASM iRules on performanceUnderstand the impact of traffic spikes on ASM performance and available mitigation strategies

Objectives

Identify and interpret ASM performance metrics

Evaluate ASM system performance issues and determine appropriate mitigation strategies

Correlate performance issues with ASM policy changes based on security policy history information and system performance graphs

Objectives

Evaluate ASM system performance issues and determine appropriate mitigation strategies

Recognize ASM specific user roles and their permissions

Recognize differences between user roles/permissionsRecognize ASM specific user roles

Objectives

Recognize ASM specific user roles and their permissions

How do I earn this certification?

Passing 303 earns the F5 Certified Technology Specialist, BIG-IP ASM (F5-CTS, BIG-IP ASM) certification. It sits in the Security track.

Current Level Exams

304 - BIG-IP APM Specialist
302 - BIG-IP DNS Specialist
301a - BIG-IP LTM Specialist: Architect, Set-Up, and Deploy
301b - BIG-IP LTM Specialist: Maintain and Troubleshoot

Next Level Options

401 - Security Solutions

Alternative Paths

304 - BIG-IP APM SpecialistCompanion specialist required alongside LTM and ASM for the Security Solutions Expert track

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How to study for this exam?

The most effective way to prepare for 303 is by using the PlanetCert Simulator to practice questions and review detailed explanations.

Official Vendor Material

303 - BIG-IP ASM Specialist Exam Blueprint (PDF)303 - BIG-IP ASM Specialist (support portal blueprint attachment, PDF)BIG-IP ASM Specialist (303) exam page BIG-IP ASM Specialist (303) - F5 Education Services article Configuring BIG-IP Advanced WAF (official course)Resources for Exam Preparation - F5 Education Services What is the F5 Exam Retake Policy?

What's changed on this exam?

Current Status

ACTIVE

Updates

BIG-IP ASM / Advanced WAF Blueprint 303.72017 The 303 blueprint predates the 'Advanced WAF' rebrand; F5 now positions the Configuring BIG-IP Advanced WAF course as the primary preparation path, so candidates should expect current ASM/Advanced WAF terminology in study materials even though the blueprint uses classic ASM wording.

Who should take this exam?

Mandatory Requirements

F5 Certified BIG-IP Administrator (F5-CA)

Recommended Preparation

At least one year of experience with BIG-IP ASM as a senior network/system/application security engineer

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Exam Information

Exam Format

Registration

Validity

ARCHITECTURE/DESIGN AND POLICY CREATION

Explain the potential effects of common attacks on web applications

Explain how specific security policies mitigate various web application attacks

Determine the appropriate policy features and granularity for a given set of requirements

Determine which deployment method is most appropriate for a given set of requirements

Explain the automatic policy builder lifecycle

Review and evaluate policy settings based on information gathered from ASM (attack signatures, DataGuard, entities)

Define appropriate policy structure for policy elements

Explain options and potential results within the deployment wizard

Explain available logging options

Describe the management of the attack signature lifecycle and select the appropriate attack signatures or signature sets

POLICY MAINTENANCE AND OPTIMIZATION

Evaluate the implications of changes in the policy to the security and functionality of the application

Explain the process to integrate natively supported third party vulnerability scan output and generic formats with ASM

Evaluate whether rules are being implemented effectively and appropriately to mitigate violations

Determine how a policy should be adjusted based upon available data

Define the ASM policy management functions

REVIEW EVENT LOGS AND MITIGATE ATTACKS

Interpret log entries and identify opportunities to refine the policy

Given an ASM report, identify trends in support of security objectives

Determine the appropriate mitigation for a given attack or vulnerability

Decide the appropriate method for determining the success of attack mitigation

TROUBLESHOOT

Evaluate ASM policy performance issues and determine appropriate mitigation strategies

Understand the impact of learning, alarm, and blocking settings on traffic enforcement

Examine policy objects to determine why traffic is or is not generating violations

Identify and interpret ASM performance metrics

Evaluate ASM system performance issues and determine appropriate mitigation strategies

Recognize ASM specific user roles and their permissions

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