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JunosOperating system · Juniper

CVE-2022-22231

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-10-18
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 Unchecked Return Value to NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability in Packet Forwarding Engine (PFE) of Juniper Networks Junos OS allows an unauthenticated, network-based attacker to cause a Denial of Service (DoS). On SRX Series if Unified Threat Management (UTM) Enhanced Content Filtering (CF) and AntiVirus (AV) are enabled together and the system processes specific valid transit traffic the Packet Forwarding Engine (PFE) will crash and restart. This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS 21.4 versions prior to 21.4R1-S2, 21.4R2 on SRX Series. This issue does not affect Juniper Networks Junos OS versions prior to 21.4R1.

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 NULL pointer dereference vulnerability in the Packet Forwarding Engine (PFE) of Juniper Junos OS on SRX Series devices allows unauthenticated attackers to crash the PFE via specific valid transit traffic. The flaw occurs when both UTM Enhanced Content Filtering and AntiVirus are enabled, and the code fails to check a return value before dereferencing it.

MitigationUpgrade Junos OS to 21.4R1-S2 or later. As a workaround, disable either UTM Enhanced Content Filtering or AntiVirus (or both) until the upgrade can be completed.

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:= 21.4

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. Confirm device is SRX Series
    Run 'show chassis hardware' or check the device model via 'show version' to verify the device is a Juniper SRX Series appliance
    Affected if Device is not an SRX Series model (vulnerability only affects SRX Series)
  2. Check Junos OS version
    Run 'show version' to display the installed Junos OS version and compare it to the affected version 21.4
    Affected if Junos OS version equals 21.4 (exact match to affected version)
  3. Verify UTM Enhanced Content Filtering status
    Run 'show configuration security utm' and look for 'content-filtering' under the UTM configuration section, or use 'show utm content-filtering status'
    Affected if UTM Enhanced Content Filtering is enabled (present in active configuration)
  4. Verify AntiVirus status
    Run 'show configuration security utm' and look for 'anti-virus' under the UTM configuration section, or use 'show utm anti-virus status'
    Affected if AntiVirus is enabled (present in active configuration)

System is affected if running Junos OS version 21.4 on an SRX Series device with both UTM Enhanced Content Filtering AND AntiVirus simultaneously enabled in the active configuration.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade Junos OS to 21.4R1-S2 or later. As a workaround, disable either UTM Enhanced Content Filtering or AntiVirus (or both) until the upgrade can be completed.

Recommended fix High confidence

21.4R1-S2 or 21.4R2 (or later stable release)

  1. 1. Identify the affected SRX Series device running Junos OS 21.4 (versions prior to 21.4R1-S2 or 21.4R2)
  2. 2. Confirm UTM Enhanced Content Filtering (CF) and AntiVirus (AV) are enabled on the device
  3. 3. Download the fixed Junos OS version (21.4R1-S2, 21.4R2, or later) from the Juniper Networks download portal
  4. 4. Upload the firmware to the device using the request system software add command: 'request system software add <package-name>'
  5. 5. Reboot the device to apply the new software: 'request system reboot'
  6. 6. After reboot, verify the new Junos version is installed with 'show version'
  7. 7. Confirm the PFE is stable and UTM features are functioning properly
Caveat Standard Junos upgrade precautions apply - verify compatibility with other installed modules and ensure configuration backup before upgrade

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Junos Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,380
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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-2022-22231 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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