dbcve.org
JunosOperating system · Juniper

CVE-2022-22232

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
A NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability in the Packet Forwarding Engine of Juniper Networks Junos OS on SRX Series 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) is enabled and specific transit traffic is processed the 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; 22.1 versions prior to 22.1R1-S1, 22.1R2 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 exists in the Packet Forwarding Engine (PFE) of Juniper Junos OS on SRX Series firewalls. When Unified Threat Management (UTM) Enhanced Content Filtering is enabled and specific transit traffic is processed, the PFE crashes and restarts, causing denial of service. The attacker requires no authentication and can trigger the vulnerability via network traffic.

MitigationUpgrade Junos OS to version 21.4R1-S2 or later, 21.4R2+, 22.1R1-S1 or later, or 22.1R2+ on SRX Series. Alternatively, if immediate upgrade is not feasible, consider disabling UTM Enhanced Content Filtering if business requirements permit, as this eliminates the attack vector.

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= 22.1

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. Confirm SRX Series device is running Junos OS
    Run 'show version' or 'show chassis hardware' to verify the device model is an SRX Series firewall and it is running Juniper Junos OS.
    Affected if Device is not an SRX Series firewall running Junos OS, then this CVE does not apply.
  2. Check installed Junos OS version
    Run 'show version' and note the Junos OS version number (for example, the output shows something like 21.4R1.x or 22.1R1.x).
    Affected if Installed version is 21.4 (any subversion like 21.4R1, 21.4R2, etc.) or 22.1 (any subversion like 22.1R1, 22.1R2, etc.). Other versions are not affected by this specific CVE.
  3. Verify UTM Enhanced Content Filtering is enabled
    Run 'show configuration utm' and look for 'content-filtering' under the UTM configuration. Also run 'show configuration security utm' to inspect the UTM policy configuration.
    Affected if The UTM Enhanced Content Filtering feature is actively configured and enabled on the device. If it is not enabled, the vulnerability cannot be triggered.
  4. Check for recent PFE crashes or restarts
    Run 'show system core-dumps' and review logs with 'show log messages' for patterns of PFE crashes or firewall restarts around the time of suspicious transit traffic.
    Affected if PFE has been crashing or restarting repeatedly, especially when processing certain traffic patterns while UTM content filtering is active.

A user is affected if they have an SRX Series device running Junos OS version 21.4 or 22.1 with UTM Enhanced Content Filtering enabled, as this specific configuration combination allows the unauthenticated attacker to trigger the NULL pointer dereference via transit 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.

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

Upgrade Junos OS to version 21.4R1-S2 or later, 21.4R2+, 22.1R1-S1 or later, or 22.1R2+ on SRX Series. Alternatively, if immediate upgrade is not feasible, consider disabling UTM Enhanced Content Filtering if business requirements permit, as this eliminates the attack vector.

Recommended fix High confidence

21.4R1-S2/21.4R3 or later for 21.4 branch; 22.1R1-S1/22.1R3 or later for 22.1 branch

  1. 1. Identify the current Junos OS version on the SRX Series device using 'show version'
  2. 2. Verify if UTM Enhanced Content Filtering (CF) is enabled using 'show configuration utm'
  3. 3. If CF is enabled, plan for upgrade to a fixed version
  4. 4. For Junos 21.4: upgrade to 21.4R1-S2, 21.4R3, or later
  5. 5. For Junos 22.1: upgrade to 22.1R1-S1, 22.1R3, or later
  6. 6. Download the appropriate upgrade package from the Juniper Networks support portal
  7. 7. Upload the upgrade package to the device using 'file copy' or USB
  8. 8. Install the upgrade using 'request system software add <package>' and reboot
Caveat Standard Junos upgrade precautions apply - test in lab first, schedule maintenance window as PFE restart causes traffic disruption

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

Fix this in Junos Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,720
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,752.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-22232 — 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-2022-22232 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