CVE-2016-4924
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 · uneditedAn incorrect permissions vulnerability in Juniper Networks Junos OS on vMX may allow local unprivileged users on a host system read access to vMX or vPFE images and obtain sensitive information contained in them such as private cryptographic keys. This issue was found during internal product security testing. Juniper SIRT is not aware of any malicious exploitation of this vulnerability. No other Juniper Networks products or platforms are affected by this issue. Affected releases are Juniper Networks Junos OS 15.1 prior to 15.1F5; 14.1 prior to 14.1R8
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 confidenceThis is a local file permissions vulnerability in Juniper Junos OS on vMX where incorrect default permissions on vMX and vPFE VM image files allow unprivileged local users on the host system to read these images. The images may contain sensitive information such as private cryptographic keys, representing a confidentiality-only impact.
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= 15.1= 14.1CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify if vMX is deployedCheck the host system for presence of vMX virtual router VM image files. Look for VM image files typically named with patterns like vmx-*, vmx.*, or similar vMX-related disk images in your virtualization environment.Affected if vMX virtual router images are present on the host system
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Determine Junos OS versionFor running vMX instances, query the Junos version via CLI: 'show version' or 'show version detail'. On the host, check any version metadata files associated with the vMX deployment.Affected if The installed Junos version equals 15.1 or equals 14.1
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Locate vMX and vPFE VM image filesIdentify all VM image files used by the vMX deployment, including both control plane (vMX) and packet forwarding engine (vPFE) images. These are typically stored in directories configured during vMX setup.Affected if vMX and/or vPFE VM image files exist on the host
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Check file permissions on VM imagesUse 'ls -la' or 'getfacl' on each identified VM image file to inspect owner, group, and world read permissions. Verify whether unprivileged users (anyone beyond owner) have read access to these files.Affected if VM image files have permissions that allow read access by non-owner users (e.g., world-readable or group-readable with accessible group)
A system is affected if vMX is deployed with Junos OS version 15.1 or 14.1 AND the VM image files have overly permissive access controls that allow unprivileged local users to read them.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpgrade Junos OS on vMX to version 15.1F5 or later (for 15.1 branch) or 14.1R8 or later (for 14.1 branch), and review/fix file permissions on the host system to ensure VM image files are not readable by unprivileged local users.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-4924 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-4924 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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