JunosOperating system · Juniper

CVE-2017-10603

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-07-17
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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
An XML injection vulnerability in Junos OS CLI can allow a locally authenticated user to elevate privileges and run arbitrary commands as the root user. This issue was found during internal product security testing. Affected releases are Juniper Networks Junos OS 15.1X53 prior to 15.1X53-D47, 15.1 prior to 15.1R3. Junos versions prior to 15.1 are not affected. No other Juniper Networks products or platforms are affected by this issue.

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

This is an XML injection vulnerability in the Junos OS CLI that allows a locally authenticated user to escalate privileges to root and execute arbitrary commands. The attacker already needs local authentication to exploit this issue, making it a privilege escalation vector rather than an initial access vector.

MitigationUpgrade Junos OS to version 15.1X53-D47 or later for the 15.1X53 branch, or 15.1R3 or later for the 15.1 branch.

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:= 15.1x53= 15.1

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 the Junos OS version
    Execute 'show version' or 'show version detail' via the CLI to retrieve the installed Junos OS version
    Affected if The version output shows 15.1X53 (any subversion) or 15.1 (any subversion before R3)
  2. Confirm the exact version string
    Locate the specific version line in the 'show version' output, such as 'Junos: 15.1X53-D25' or 'Junos: 15.1R1'
    Affected if The version matches 15.1X53 (all variants) or falls within the 15.1 branch before 15.1R3
  3. Verify CLI access exists for local users
    Confirm that local user accounts exist with CLI login capability by reviewing system authentication settings
    Affected if Local authenticated CLI access is configured and available to non-root users
  4. Check for prior evidence of exploitation
    Review system logs and audit trails for unusual command execution or privilege escalation indicators, particularly involving XML-related CLI operations
    Affected if Logs show unexpected XML parser behavior or unauthorized root-level command execution

A system is affected if it runs Junos OS version 15.1X53 (any variant) or version 15.1 through 15.1R2, and allows local CLI access to authenticated non-root users.

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

Upgrade Junos OS to version 15.1X53-D47 or later for the 15.1X53 branch, or 15.1R3 or later for the 15.1 branch.

Fix this in Junos Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
26.0 hours of engineering $4,560
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $7,296.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-10603 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-10603 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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