CVE-2023-28978: Junos OS Evolved: Read access to some confidential user information is possible
Noroxi assessment
Priority: Monitor (action score 21/100)
- The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
- Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.47% (FIRST EPSS).
- 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.
- According to CISA the attack is automatable: targets can be found by mass scanning.
- According to the record, no fixed version is available yet.
Low priority for now. Update when a fix is released; follow the vendor's advisory.
Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it
Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS
An Insecure Default Initialization of Resource vulnerability in Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved allows an unauthenticated, network based attacker to read certain confidential information. In the default configuration it is possible to read confidential information about locally configured (administrative) users of the affected system. This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved: All versions prior to 20.4R3-S7-EVO on pending commit???; 21.1-EVO versions prior to 21.1R3-S4-EVO on awaiting build; 21.4-EVO versions prior to 21.4R3-S1-EVO; 22.2-EVO versions prior to 22.2R3-EVO; 21.2-EVO versions prior to 21.2R3-S5-EVO on pending commit???; 21.3-EVO version 21.3R1-EVO and later versions; 22.1-EVO version 22.1R1-EVO and later versions; 22.2-EVO versions prior to 22.2R2-S1-EVO.
- Published
- Apr 17, 2023
- Updated
- Jun 17, 2026
- EPSS
- 0.4% · 41th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-1188
Report tools
Action score
21
Monitor
Low priority for now.
- CVSS
- 21 / 40 · 5.3 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 0 / 30 · 0.4%
CISA SSVC decision
- Exploitation
- none
- Automatable
- yes
- Technical impact
- partial
Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.
CNA vs NVD score
- NVD
- —
- CNA · juniper
- 5.3
- 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.
Get told when this record changes
- Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
- No public exploit code on record
- No fixed version yet
If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.
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Noroxi analysis
What does it mean in your environment?
The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.
We use this product, ask for helpAffected systems
Is your version affected?
Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.
| Vendor | Product | CPE |
|---|---|---|
| juniper | junos os evolved | cpe:2.3:o:juniper:junos_os_evolved |
Affected versions
NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.
- juniper junos os evolvedbefore 20.4
- juniper junos os evolved20.4
- juniper junos os evolved21.1
- juniper junos os evolved21.2
- juniper junos os evolved21.3
- juniper junos os evolved21.4
- juniper junos os evolved22.1
- juniper junos os evolved22.2
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 Evolved
- 21.3R1-EVO and later · before 21.3-EVO*affected
- 21.4-EVO and later · before 21.4R3-S1-EVOaffected
- 22.1R1-EVO and later · before 22.1-EVO*affected
- 22.2-EVO and later · before 22.2R2-S1-EVOaffected
Same product
juniper: all recordsOther highest-scoring records for the same primary product.
- CVE-2026-21902Junos OS Evolved: PTX Series: A vulnerability allows a unauthenticated, network-based attacker to execute code as root43Plan
- CVE-2026-101990Junos OS and Junos OS Evolved: A BGP peer causes an rpd crash when flow-spec routes are re-advertised37Monitor
- CVE-2026-101986Junos OS and Junos OS Evolved: J-Web permits pre-authentication CGI execution37Monitor
Published before and after this one in the same product
- ← EarlierCVE-2023-28967Apr 17, 2023 · Junos OS and Junos OS Evolved: An attacker sending genuine BGP packets causes an RPD crash30Monitor
- ← EarlierCVE-2023-28973Apr 17, 2023 · Junos OS Evolved: The 'sysmanctl' shell command allows a local user to gain access to some administrative actions28Monitor
- Later →CVE-2023-28983Apr 17, 2023 · Junos OS Evolved: Shell Injection vulnerability in the gNOI server35Monitor
Remediation
Which version to upgrade to
Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.
No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.
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.
No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).
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 researchersFinders, 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
- low · data can be read
- Integrity
- none
- Availability
- none
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality impact
- Low
- Integrity impact
- None
- Availability impact
- None
Weakness class (CWE)
CWE-1188 · Initialization of a Resource with an Insecure DefaultCVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
nvd-secondary
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
No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.
References
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.