dbcve.org
Junos Os EvolvedOperating system · Juniper

CVE-2021-0286

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
A vulnerability in the handling of exceptional conditions in Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved (EVO) allows an attacker to send specially crafted packets to the device, causing the Advanced Forwarding Toolkit manager (evo-aftmand-bt or evo-aftmand-zx) process to crash and restart, impacting all traffic going through the FPC, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS). Continued receipt and processing of these packets will create a sustained Denial of Service (DoS) condition. Following messages will be logged prior to the crash: Feb 2 10:14:39 fpc0 evo-aftmand-bt[16263]: [Error] Nexthop: Failed to get fwd nexthop for nexthop:32710470974358 label:1089551617 for session:18 probe:35 Feb 2 10:14:39 fpc0 evo-aftmand-bt[16263]: [Error] Nexthop: Failed to get fwd nexthop for nexthop:19241453497049 label:1089551617 for session:18 probe:37 Feb 2 10:14:39 fpc0 evo-aftmand-bt[16263]: [Error] Nexthop: Failed to get fwd nexthop for nexthop:19241453497049 label:1089551617 for session:18 probe:44 Feb 2 10:14:39 fpc0 evo-aftmand-bt[16263]: [Error] Nexthop: Failed to get fwd nexthop for nexthop:32710470974358 label:1089551617 for session:18 probe:47 Feb 2 10:14:39 fpc0 audit[16263]: ANOM_ABEND auid=4294967295 uid=0 gid=0 ses=4294967295 pid=16263 comm="EvoAftManBt-mai" exe="/usr/sbin/evo-aftmand-bt" sig=11 Feb 2 10:14:39 fpc0 kernel: audit: type=1701 audit(1612260879.272:17): auid=4294967295 uid=0 gid=0 ses=4294967295 pid=16263 comm="EvoAftManBt-mai" exe="/usr/sbin/evo-aftmand-bt" sig=1 This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved: All versions prior to 20.4R2-EVO; 21.1 versions prior to 21.1R2-EVO.

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

A vulnerability in Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved allows remote attackers to send specially crafted packets that crash the Advanced Forwarding Toolkit manager process (evo-aftmand-bt or evo-aftmand-zx), causing a Denial of Service. The process crash (sig=11) impacts all traffic through the affected FPC, and continued receipt of malicious packets creates a sustained DoS condition.

MitigationUpgrade Junos OS Evolved to version 20.4R2-EVO or 21.1R2-EVO or later per Juniper's advisory. Consider implementing packet filtering or rate limiting on upstream interfaces as a temporary mitigation if immediate patching is not feasible.

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
Junos Os EvolvedOperating system
Affected:= 19.2= 19.3= 19.4= 20.1= 20.2= 20.3= 20.4= 21.1

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
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 Junos OS Evolved version
    Run 'show version' or 'show version invoke-on all-routing-engines' to display the installed Junos OS Evolved version
    Affected if Version matches 19.2, 19.3, 19.4, 20.1, 20.2, 20.3, 20.4, or 21.1 (exact version match required)
  2. Confirm Advanced Forwarding Toolkit process is active
    Run 'show system processes' or 'show system processes extensive | match aftmand' to verify evo-aftmand-bt or evo-aftmand-zx process is running
    Affected if Either evo-aftmand-bt or evo-aftmand-zx process is present and running on the device
  3. Check FPC status and presence
    Run 'show chassis fpc' or 'show chassis hardware' to identify if any FPC (Forwarding PIC) slots are populated
    Affected if Any FPC is online or present - the vulnerability impacts traffic through affected FPCs when the process crashes
  4. Inspect for prior crash events
    Run 'show log messages' and search for 'sig=11' or 'evo-aftmand' crash entries in system logs
    Affected if Recent crash logs show sig=11 errors in evo-aftmand-bt or evo-aftmand-zx, indicating potential exploitation

Device is affected if it runs Junos OS Evolved version 19.2 through 21.1 AND has the Advanced Forwarding Toolkit process (evo-aftmand-bt or evo-aftmand-zx) active with FPC hardware present.

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 Evolved to version 20.4R2-EVO or 21.1R2-EVO or later per Juniper's advisory. Consider implementing packet filtering or rate limiting on upstream interfaces as a temporary mitigation if immediate patching is not feasible.

Fix this in Junos Os Evolved Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-0286 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2021-0286 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