CVE-2020-1621
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 · uneditedA local, authenticated user with shell can obtain the hashed values of login passwords via configd traces. This issue affects all versions of Junos OS Evolved prior to 19.3R1.
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 confidenceA local, authenticated user with shell access on Junos OS Evolved can obtain hashed login passwords through configd traces. This is an information disclosure vulnerability where sensitive credential hashes are exposed in debug/tracing output.
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< 19.3r1CVSS 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:3.1/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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Determine Junos OS Evolved versionRun 'show version' or 'show system software' from the CLI to retrieve the installed Junos OS Evolved version numberAffected if The installed version is anything prior to 19.3r1 (for example, 19.2.x or earlier)
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Verify shell access configurationCheck if shell access is enabled for operator or user accounts by reviewing system login class configurations in the configurationAffected if Shell access is granted to non-administrative or untrusted user accounts
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Locate configd trace filesNavigate to /var/log/ or /var/trace/ directories and look for configd-related trace files (typically named configd* or similar debug output)Affected if Configd trace files exist and are readable by the querying user
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Inspect trace files for password hashesSearch within configd trace files for patterns resembling password hash strings (e.g., $6$, $1$, $md5$, or other encrypted password formats) using grep or similar text searchAffected if Readable trace files contain hashed password strings in plaintext
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Check trace file permissionsReview file permissions on trace directories and files to confirm whether low-privilege users can access configd outputAffected if Non-admin users have read access to directories or files containing configd traces
A user is affected if they are running Junos OS Evolved version prior to 19.3r1 AND have shell access to the system where configd trace files containing password hashes may be present and readable.
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 data19.3r1
Upgrade Junos OS Evolved to version 19.3R1 or later to remediate this vulnerability. As a temporary mitigation, restrict shell access to trusted personnel only.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,968.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-1621 — 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-2020-1621 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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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.
- 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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