Junos Os EvolvedOperating system · Juniper

CVE-2023-22397

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-01-13
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 20.4 or later.
See remediation →
66/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling weakness in the memory management of the Packet Forwarding Engine (PFE) on Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved PTX10003 Series devices allows an adjacently located attacker who has established certain preconditions and knowledge of the environment to send certain specific genuine packets to begin a Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition attack which will cause a memory leak to begin. Once this condition begins, and as long as the attacker is able to sustain the offending traffic, a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) event occurs. As a DDoS event, the offending packets sent by the attacker will continue to flow from one device to another as long as they are received and processed by any devices, ultimately causing a cascading outage to any vulnerable devices. Devices not vulnerable to the memory leak will process and forward the offending packet(s) to neighboring devices. Due to internal anti-flood security controls and mechanisms reaching their maximum limit of response in the worst-case scenario, all affected Junos OS Evolved devices will reboot in as little as 1.5 days. Reboots to restore services cannot be avoided once the memory leak begins. The device will self-recover after crashing and rebooting. Operator intervention isn't required to restart the device. This issue affects: Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved on PTX10003: All versions prior to 20.4R3-S4-EVO; 21.3 versions prior to 21.3R3-S1-EVO; 21.4 versions prior to 21.4R2-S2-EVO, 21.4R3-EVO; 22.1 versions prior to 22.1R1-S2-EVO, 22.1R2-EVO; 22.2 versions prior to 22.2R2-EVO. To check memory, customers may VTY to the PFE first then execute the following show statement: show jexpr jtm ingress-main-memory chip 255 | no-more Alternatively one may execute from the RE CLI: request pfe execute target fpc0 command "show jexpr jtm ingress-main-memory chip 255 | no-more" Iteration 1: Example output: Mem type: NH, alloc type: JTM 136776 bytes used (max 138216 bytes used) 911568 bytes available (909312 bytes from free pages) Iteration 2: Example output: Mem type: NH, alloc type: JTM 137288 bytes used (max 138216 bytes used) 911056 bytes available (909312 bytes from free pages) The same can be seen in the CLI below, assuming the scale does not change: show npu memory info Example output: FPC0:NPU16 mem-util-jnh-nh-size 2097152 FPC0:NPU16 mem-util-jnh-nh-allocated 135272 FPC0:NPU16 mem-util-jnh-nh-utilization 6

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 TOCTOU race condition in the Packet Forwarding Engine (PFE) memory management of Junos OS Evolved on PTX10003 series allows an adjacent attacker with specific environment knowledge to send crafted packets that trigger a memory leak. The leak accumulates until internal anti-flood controls are exhausted, causing devices to automatically reboot within 1.5 days, creating a cascading DDoS effect across vulnerable devices.

MitigationUpgrade Junos OS Evolved on PTX10003 devices to version 20.4R3-S4-EVO, 21.3R3-S1-EVO, 21.4R2-S2-EVO/21.4R3-EVO, 22.1R1-S2-EVO/22.1R2-EVO, or 22.2R2-EVO or later. Monitor NPU memory using provided VTY/CLI commands to detect anomalous growth.

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:< 20.4= 20.4= 21.3= 21.4= 22.1= 22.2

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
Adjacent
Complexity
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/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 PTX10003 series
    Run 'show chassis hardware' or 'show system information' to verify the hardware model
    Affected if Device model is PTX10003 (any variant)
  2. Check Junos OS Evolved version
    Run 'show version' to obtain the installed Junos OS Evolved version number
    Affected if Version is < 20.4, 20.4, 21.3, 21.4, 22.1, or 22.2 (exact matches or any version below the fixed releases)
  3. Monitor NPU memory for anomalous growth
    Use VTY commands to access Packet Forwarding Engine and monitor NPU memory statistics over time (e.g., run 'show npu memory' at intervals)
    Affected if NPU memory shows continuous growth without stabilization or decrease over hours to days
  4. Check for unexpected device reboots
    Review system logs with 'show system reboot history' or check syslog for unexpected reload events
    Affected if Device has experienced multiple unexplained reboots within short periods (approximately within 1.5 days)

A user is affected if they run Junos OS Evolved on PTX10003 hardware with a version matching the affected list AND observe unexplained NPU memory growth or frequent reboots.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 20.4 or later
Fixed in 20.4
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Junos OS Evolved on PTX10003 devices to version 20.4R3-S4-EVO, 21.3R3-S1-EVO, 21.4R2-S2-EVO/21.4R3-EVO, 22.1R1-S2-EVO/22.1R2-EVO, or 22.2R2-EVO or later. Monitor NPU memory using provided VTY/CLI commands to detect anomalous growth.

Recommended fix High confidence

20.4R3-S4-EVO, 21.3R3-S1-EVO, 21.4R3-EVO, 22.1R2-EVO, or 22.2R2-EVO (depending on which branch you are on)

  1. 1. Identify the current Junos OS Evolved version on the PTX10003 device using 'show version'
  2. 2. Determine the appropriate upgrade path based on current version (20.4 -> 20.4R3-S4-EVO, 21.3 -> 21.3R3-S1-EVO, 21.4 -> 21.4R3-EVO or later)
  3. 3. Download the required Junos OS Evolved software from Juniper Networks support portal
  4. 4. Upload the software package to the device using 'request system software add' or equivalent
  5. 5. Reboot the device to apply the new software version
  6. 6. After reboot, verify the new version is installed using 'show version'
  7. 7. Optionally verify the memory leak is resolved by checking PFE memory using 'request pfe execute target fpc0 command "show jexpr jtm ingress-main-memory chip 255 | no-more"'
Caveat Standard Junos OS Evolved upgrade - test in lab environment first, ensure compatibility with other network devices, and plan maintenance window as upgrade requires reboot

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

Fix this in Junos Os Evolved Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2023-22397 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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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