dbcve.org
Junos Os EvolvedOperating system · Juniper

CVE-2023-22400

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-01-13
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 the PFE management daemon (evo-pfemand) of Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved allows an unauthenticated, network-based attacker to cause an FPC crash leading to a Denial of Service (DoS). When a specific SNMP GET operation or a specific CLI command is executed this will cause a GUID resource leak, eventually leading to exhaustion and result in an FPC crash and reboot. GUID exhaustion will trigger a syslog message like one of the following for example: evo-pfemand[<pid>]: get_next_guid: Ran out of Guid Space ... evo-aftmand-zx[<pid>]: get_next_guid: Ran out of Guid Space ... This leak can be monitored by running the following command and taking note of the value in the rightmost column labeled Guids: user@host> show platform application-info allocations app evo-pfemand | match "IFDId|IFLId|Context" Node Application Context Name Live Allocs Fails Guids re0 evo-pfemand net::juniper::interfaces::IFDId 0 3448 0 3448 re0 evo-pfemand net::juniper::interfaces::IFLId 0 561 0 561 user@host> show platform application-info allocations app evo-pfemand | match "IFDId|IFLId|Context" Node Application Context Name Live Allocs Fails Guids re0 evo-pfemand net::juniper::interfaces::IFDId 0 3784 0 3784 re0 evo-pfemand net::juniper::interfaces::IFLId 0 647 0 647 This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved: All versions prior to 20.4R3-S3-EVO; 21.1-EVO version 21.1R1-EVO and later versions; 21.2-EVO versions prior to 21.2R3-S4-EVO; 21.3-EVO version 21.3R1-EVO and later versions; 21.4-EVO versions prior to 21.4R2-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

An unauthenticated, network-based attacker can trigger an uncontrolled GUID resource leak in the evo-pfemand PFE management daemon on Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved by sending specific SNMP GET operations or executing specific CLI commands. This causes GUID exhaustion, leading to FPC crash and reboot (Denial of Service).

MitigationApply vendor-supplied Junos OS Evolved patches/updates to versions 20.4R3-S3-EVO, 21.2R3-S4-EVO, or 21.4R2-EVO or later as appropriate for the deployed version branch.

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= 21.1= 21.2= 21.3= 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 Junos OS Evolved is running
    Execute 'show version' or 'request system version' via CLI and verify the OS is 'Junos OS Evolved' rather than standard Junos OS
    Affected if The device runs Junos OS Evolved (this vulnerability only affects the Evolved variant)
  2. Identify the installed Junos OS Evolved version
    Run 'show version' or 'request system version' and note the exact version number (e.g., 20.4, 21.1, 21.2, 21.3, 21.4)
    Affected if The installed version matches 20.4, 21.1, 21.2, 21.3, or 21.4 exactly
  3. Verify if SNMP is enabled
    Run 'show snmp statistics' or check the configuration with 'show configuration snmp'
    Affected if SNMP is enabled and accessible to unauthenticated network attackers (SNMP GET operations can trigger the flaw)
  4. Check if remote management interfaces are exposed
    Review interface configurations with 'show configuration interfaces' and verify management access policies
    Affected if Management interfaces (such as fxp0) are reachable from untrusted networks, allowing network-based attackers to send malicious requests

A user is affected if the device runs Junos OS Evolved versions 20.4, 21.1, 21.2, 21.3, or 21.4 with SNMP or remote CLI access enabled and exposed to untrusted networks.

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

Apply vendor-supplied Junos OS Evolved patches/updates to versions 20.4R3-S3-EVO, 21.2R3-S4-EVO, or 21.4R2-EVO or later as appropriate for the deployed version branch.

Recommended fix High confidence

20.4R3-S3-EVO, 21.2R3-S4-EVO, or 21.4R2-EVO (depending on current branch)

  1. Identify the current Junos OS Evolved version running on the device using 'show version'
  2. Determine which version branch your current code falls into (20.4, 21.1, 21.2, 21.3, or 21.4)
  3. For 20.4 branch: Upgrade to 20.4R3-S3-EVO or later
  4. For 21.2 branch: Upgrade to 21.2R3-S4-EVO or later
  5. For 21.4 branch: Upgrade to 21.4R2-EVO or later
  6. For 21.1 or 21.3 branch: Upgrade to the next stable branch with a fixed release (e.g., 21.2R3-S4-EVO or 21.4R2-EVO)
  7. After upgrade, verify the fix by monitoring GUID allocation: run 'show platform application-info allocations app evo-pfemand | match IFDId|IFLId|Context' periodically to confirm Guids count stabilizes and does not continuously grow
  8. Verify no 'Ran out of Guid Space' syslog messages appear after the upgrade
Caveat FPC reboot will occur during the upgrade process; plan maintenance window accordingly

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 / QA3.0 h
21.0 hours of engineering $3,680
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,888.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-22400 — 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-2023-22400 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