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JunosOperating system · Juniper

CVE-2021-0285

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-07-15
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges 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 uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in Juniper Networks Junos OS on QFX5000 Series and EX4600 Series switches allows an attacker sending large amounts of legitimate traffic destined to the device to cause Interchassis Control Protocol (ICCP) interruptions, leading to an unstable control connection between the Multi-Chassis Link Aggregation Group (MC-LAG) nodes which can in turn lead to traffic loss. Continued receipt of this amount of traffic will create a sustained Denial of Service (DoS) condition. An indication that the system could be impacted by this issue is the following log message: "DDOS_PROTOCOL_VIOLATION_SET: Warning: Host-bound traffic for protocol/exception LOCALNH:aggregate exceeded its allowed bandwidth at fpc <fpc number> for <n> times, started at <timestamp>" This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS on QFX5000 Series and EX4600 Series: 15.1 versions prior to 15.1R7-S9; 17.3 versions prior to 17.3R3-S11; 17.4 versions prior to 17.4R2-S13, 17.4R3-S5; 18.3 versions prior to 18.3R3-S5; 18.4 versions prior to 18.4R2-S8, 18.4R3-S7; 19.1 versions prior to 19.1R3-S5; 19.2 versions prior to 19.2R1-S6, 19.2R3-S2; 19.3 versions prior to 19.3R2-S6, 19.3R3-S2; 19.4 versions prior to 19.4R1-S4, 19.4R2-S4, 19.4R3-S2; 20.1 versions prior to 20.1R2-S2, 20.1R3; 20.2 versions prior to 20.2R2-S3, 20.2R3; 20.3 versions prior to 20.3R2; 20.4 versions prior to 20.4R1-S1, 20.4R2.

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

Uncontrolled resource consumption in Junos OS on QFX5000 and EX4600 switches allows attacker-sent large amounts of legitimate traffic to overwhelm the device's rate limiting for host-bound traffic (LOCALNH:aggregate), causing Interchassis Control Protocol (ICCP) interruptions between MC-LAG nodes, leading to unstable control connections and sustained DoS via traffic loss.

MitigationApply the appropriate Junos OS patch/upgrade per the Juniper advisory for the affected version. Monitor for DDOS_PROTOCOL_VIOLATION_SET log messages indicating host-bound traffic exceeded allowed bandwidth.

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:= 15.1= 17.3= 17.4= 18.3= 18.4= 19.1= 19.2= 19.3= 19.4= 20.1= 20.2= 20.3

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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 device model
    Run 'show chassis hardware' or check the physical device label to confirm it is a QFX5000 series or EX4600 switch
    Affected if Device is NOT a QFX5000 or EX4600 model (other models are not affected by this specific vulnerability)
  2. Check Junos OS version
    Run 'show version' and note the installed Junos version number
    Affected if Version matches any of these: 15.1, 17.3, 17.4, 18.3, 18.4, 19.1, 19.2, 19.3, 19.4, 20.1, 20.2, or 20.3
  3. Verify ICCP/MC-LAG configuration
    Run 'show configuration protocols iccp' to check if Interchassis Control Protocol is configured between MC-LAG nodes
    Affected if ICCP is not configured (the vulnerability specifically impacts ICCP connections between MC-LAG nodes)
  4. Check for DDOS_PROTOCOL_VIOLATION_SET log messages
    Run 'show log messages | match DDOS_PROTOCOL_VIOLATION_SET' to look for evidence of host-bound traffic exceeding allowed bandwidth
    Affected if Log messages show host-bound traffic (LOCALNH:aggregate) exceeded configured rate limits

A user is affected if they are running a vulnerable Junos version (15.1, 17.3-17.4, 18.3-18.4, 19.1-19.4, 20.1-20.3) on a QFX5000 or EX4600 switch with ICCP/MC-LAG configured, and they observe DDOS_PROTOCOL_VIOLATION_SET logs indicating rate limit violations for host-bound traffic.

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

Apply the appropriate Junos OS patch/upgrade per the Juniper advisory for the affected version. Monitor for DDOS_PROTOCOL_VIOLATION_SET log messages indicating host-bound traffic exceeded allowed bandwidth.

Fix this in Junos Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,600
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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-2021-0285 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