We have investigated the magnetic ground state of CuFeAs and CuFeSb by means of ⁵⁷Fe-Mössbauer spectroscopy, muon spin rotation/relaxation (μSR), neutron diffraction, and electronic structure calculations. Both materials share the 111-LiFeAs crystal structure and are closely related to the class of iron-based superconductors. In both materials there is a considerable occupancy of the Cu site by Fe, which leads to ferromagnetic moments, which are magnetically strongly coupled to the regular Fe site magnetism. Our study shows that CuFeAs is close to an antiferromagnetic instability, whereas a ferromagnetic ground state is observed in CuFeSb, supporting theoretical models of anion height driven magnetism.