CVE-2018-0044
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 insecure SSHD configuration in Juniper Device Manager (JDM) and host OS on Juniper NFX Series devices may allow remote unauthenticated access if any of the passwords on the system are empty. The affected SSHD configuration has the PermitEmptyPasswords option set to "yes". Affected releases are Juniper Networks Junos OS: 18.1 versions prior to 18.1R4 on NFX Series.
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 confidenceThe Juniper NFX Series devices have an insecure SSHD configuration where PermitEmptyPasswords is set to 'yes' in Juniper Device Manager (JDM) and host OS. If any account on the system has an empty password, remote attackers can gain unauthenticated access via SSH without providing any credentials.
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>= 18.1r1, <= 18.1r3CVSS 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
- High
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Junos OS versionRun 'show version' or 'system information' command via CLI to retrieve the installed Junos versionAffected if Version is 18.1r1, 18.1r2, or 18.1r3 (within >=18.1r1 and <=18.1r3)
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Confirm SSH service is enabledRun 'show system services ssh' to verify SSH daemon is activeAffected if SSH service is running and accessible
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Inspect SSHD configuration for PermitEmptyPasswordsCheck the SSHD config file or run 'show configuration system services ssh' to view the PermitEmptyPasswords settingAffected if PermitEmptyPasswords is explicitly set to 'yes' or defaults to 'yes' in the configuration
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Identify accounts with empty passwordsRun 'show system login' or check /etc/shadow (if accessible) to list all system accounts and verify whether any have empty password fieldsAffected if One or more accounts have empty/null password fields configured
Environment is affected if running Junos 18.1r1 through 18.1r3, SSH is enabled, PermitEmptyPasswords is set to 'yes', and at least one account has an empty password configured.
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 to Junos OS 18.1R4 or later. As an immediate workaround, disable PermitEmptyPasswords in the SSHD configuration and ensure all system accounts have strong, non-empty passwords.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-0044 — 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-2018-0044 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
No notes yet
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- 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
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