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CVE-2023-22396· NVD / CVE Program· CNA juniper

Junos OS: Receipt of crafted TCP packets destined to the device results in MBUF leak leading to a Denial of Service (DoS)

An Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in TCP processing on the Routing Engine (RE) of Juniper Networks Junos OS allows an unauthenticated network-based attacker to send crafted TCP packets destined to the device, resulting in an MBUF leak that ultimately leads to a Denial of Service (DoS). The system does not recover automatically and must be manually restarted to restore service. This issue occurs when crafted TCP packets are sent directly to a configured IPv4 or IPv6 interface on the device. Transit traffic will not trigger this issue. MBUF usage can be monitored through the use of the 'show system buffers' command. For example: user@junos> show system buffers | refresh 5 4054/566/4620 mbufs in use (current/cache/total) ... 4089/531/4620 mbufs in use (current/cache/total) ... 4151/589/4740 mbufs in use (current/cache/total) ... 4213/527/4740 mbufs in use (current/cache/total) This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS: 12.3 version 12.3R12-S19 and later versions; 15.1 version 15.1R7-S10 and later versions; 17.3 version 17.3R3-S12 and later versions; 18.4 version 18.4R3-S9 and later versions; 19.1 version 19.1R3-S7 and later versions; 19.2 version 19.2R3-S3 and later versions; 19.3 version 19.3R2-S7, 19.3R3-S3 and later versions prior to 19.3R3-S7; 19.4 version 19.4R2-S7, 19.4R3-S5 and later versions prior to 19.4R3-S10; 20.1 version 20.1R3-S1 and later versions; 20.2 version 20.2R3-S2 and later versions prior to 20.2R3-S6; 20.3 version 20.3R3-S1 and later versions prior to 20.3R3-S6; 20.4 version 20.4R2-S2, 20.4R3 and later versions prior to 20.4R3-S5; 21.1 version 21.1R2 and later versions prior to 21.1R3-S4; 21.2 version 21.2R1-S1, 21.2R2 and later versions prior to 21.2R3-S3; 21.3 versions prior to 21.3R3-S2; 21.4 versions prior to 21.4R3; 22.1 versions prior to 22.1R2-S1, 22.1R3; 22.2 versions prior to 22.2R1-S2, 22.2R2; 22.3 versions prior to 22.3R1-S1, 22.3R2.

HighCVSS 7.5 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available

Noroxi analysis

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Published
Jan 12, 2023
Updated
Jun 17, 2026
EPSS
0.6% · 45th percentile
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Report tools

JSON

Action score

30

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
30 / 40 · 7.5 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.6%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
—
CNA · juniper
7.5
NVD has not scored this yet; the score shown is the CNA’s.

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Affected systems

VendorProduct
juniperjunos

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • juniper junos12.3
  • juniper junos15.1
  • juniper junos17.3
  • juniper junos18.4
  • juniper junos19.1
  • juniper junos19.2
  • juniper junos19.3
  • juniper junos19.4
  • juniper junos20.1
  • juniper junos20.2
  • juniper junos20.3
  • juniper junos20.4
  • juniper junos21.1
  • juniper junos21.2
  • juniper junos21.3
  • juniper junos21.4
  • juniper junos22.1
  • juniper junos22.2
  • juniper junos22.3

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (juniper). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • Juniper Networks Junos OS

    • 12.3R12-S19 and later · before 12.3*affected
    • 15.1R7-S10 and later · before 15.1*affected
    • 17.3R3-S12 and later · before 17.3*affected
    • 18.4R3-S9 and later · before 18.4*affected
    • 19.1R3-S7 and later · before 19.1*affected
    • 19.2R3-S3 and later · before 19.2*affected
    • 19.3R2-S7, 19.3R3-S3 and later · before 19.3*affectedfixed in 19.3R3-S7
    • 19.4R2-S7, 19.4R3-S5 and later · before 19.4*affectedfixed in 19.4R3-S10
    • 20.1R3-S1 and later · before 20.1*affected
    • 20.2R3-S2 and later · before 20.2*affectedfixed in 20.2R3-S6

Same product

juniper: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2023-36845Junos OS: EX and SRX Series: A PHP vulnerability in J-Web allows an unauthenticated to control an important environment variableKEV
    98Now
  • CVE-2023-36846Junos OS: SRX Series: A vulnerability in J-Web allows an unauthenticated attacker to upload arbitrary filesKEV
    79This week
  • CVE-2023-36844Junos OS: EX Series: A PHP vulnerability in J-Web allows an unauthenticated attacker to control important environment variablesKEV
    78This week
  • CVE-2023-36847Junos OS: EX Series: A vulnerability in J-Web allows an unauthenticated attacker to upload arbitrary filesKEV
    76This week
  • CVE-2020-1631Out of Cycle Security Advisory: Junos OS: Security vulnerability in J-Web and web based (HTTP/HTTPS) servicesKEV
    70This week
  • CVE-2025-21590Junos OS: An local attacker with shell access can execute arbitrary codeKEV
    57Plan

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
Juniper Networks Junos OS19.3R3-S7Vendor (CNA)
Juniper Networks Junos OS19.4R3-S10Vendor (CNA)
Juniper Networks Junos OS20.2R3-S6Vendor (CNA)
Juniper Networks Junos OS20.3R3-S6Vendor (CNA)
Juniper Networks Junos OS20.4R3-S5Vendor (CNA)
Juniper Networks Junos OS21.1R3-S4Vendor (CNA)
Juniper Networks Junos OS21.2R3-S3Vendor (CNA)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
none
Integrity
none
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
None
Integrity impact
None
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-400 · Uncontrolled Resource Consumption

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

nvd-secondary

Root cause

Code that parses nested structures sets no depth or size limit. A small input can turn into a disproportionate processing load.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-400 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

ts
function expand(node) {  return node.children.map(expand);}

Fixed

ts
const MAX_DEPTH = 32;function expand(node, depth = 0) {  if (depth > MAX_DEPTH) throw new Error("too deep");  return node.children.map((c) => expand(c, depth + 1));}

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records