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JunosOperating system · Juniper

CVE-2015-3006

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-02-28
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
On the QFX3500 and QFX3600 platforms, the number of bytes collected from the RANDOM_INTERRUPT entropy source when the device boots up is insufficient, possibly leading to weak or duplicate SSH keys or self-signed SSL/TLS certificates. Entropy increases after the system has been up and running for some time, but immediately after boot, the entropy is very low. This issue only affects the QFX3500 and QFX3600 switches. No other Juniper Networks products or platforms are affected by this weak entropy vulnerability.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

On Juniper QFX3500 and QFX3600 switches, the RANDOM_INTERRUPT entropy source collects insufficient bytes during device boot, resulting in low entropy at startup. This can produce weak, predictable, or duplicate SSH keys and self-signed SSL/TLS certificates. Entropy improves after the system runs for a period, but keys generated during early boot remain potentially compromised.

MitigationRegenerate SSH host keys and SSL/TLS certificates after the device has been running long enough to accumulate adequate entropy; verify no duplicate keys exist across devices. Check for available Juniper firmware updates that address this entropy collection issue.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
JunosOperating system
Affected:= 12.2x50= 13.1x50= 13.2x51= 13.2x52= 14.1x53

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify device model
    Run 'show chassis hardware' or check the physical device label to confirm the model is a QFX3500 or QFX3600 switch
    Affected if Device is not a QFX3500 or QFX3600 switch (other Juniper switches are not affected by this specific CVE)
  2. Check Junos version
    Run 'show version' to obtain the installed Junos version, then compare it against the affected versions: 12.2x50, 13.1x50, 13.2x51, 13.2x52, or 14.1x53
    Affected if Installed version matches one of the listed affected versions exactly
  3. Inspect SSH host key generation time
    Run 'show system services ssh-logs' or check the creation timestamp of /etc/ssh/ssh_host_*_key files using 'ls -la /etc/ssh/ssh_host_*_key' to determine when keys were generated relative to device boot time
    Affected if SSH host keys were generated shortly after boot when entropy was low (keys created within the first few minutes of device startup)
  4. Check for duplicate SSH host keys
    Compare the SSH host key fingerprints (run 'ssh-keygen -lf /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key') across multiple QFX3500/QFX3600 devices or compare to known values
    Affected if Duplicate SSH host key fingerprints exist across different devices, indicating keys were generated with insufficient entropy
  5. Verify SSL/TLS certificate uniqueness
    Inspect any self-signed SSL/TLS certificates in use on the device (check 'show system services web-management https' certificate details) and compare certificate fingerprints or serial numbers across devices
    Affected if Duplicate or predictable SSL/TLS certificate fingerprints or serial numbers are found across multiple devices

A device is affected if it is a QFX3500 or QFX3600 running one of the specific affected Junos versions and SSH host keys or SSL/TLS certificates were generated during early boot before adequate entropy was accumulated.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Regenerate SSH host keys and SSL/TLS certificates after the device has been running long enough to accumulate adequate entropy; verify no duplicate keys exist across devices. Check for available Juniper firmware updates that address this entropy collection issue.

Fix this in Junos Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,440
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2015-3006 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data