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JunosOperating system · Juniper

CVE-2023-22417

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
A Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime vulnerability in the Flow Processing Daemon (flowd) of Juniper Networks Junos OS allows a network-based, unauthenticated attacker to cause a Denial of Service (DoS). In an IPsec VPN environment, a memory leak will be seen if a DH or ECDH group is configured. Eventually the flowd process will crash and restart. This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS on SRX Series: All versions prior to 19.3R3-S7; 19.4 versions prior to 19.4R2-S8, 19.4R3-S10; 20.2 versions prior to 20.2R3-S6; 20.3 versions prior to 20.3R3-S5; 20.4 versions prior to 20.4R3-S5; 21.1 versions prior to 21.1R3-S4; 21.2 versions prior to 21.2R3; 21.3 versions prior to 21.3R3; 21.4 versions prior to 21.4R2.

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 memory leak vulnerability exists in the Flow Processing Daemon (flowd) of Juniper Junos OS on SRX Series devices. When IPsec VPN is configured with DH or ECDH groups, memory is not properly released after effective lifetime, causing gradual memory exhaustion. Eventually the flowd process crashes and restarts, resulting in a denial of service. The attacker requires no authentication and only needs to send traffic through the affected IPsec VPN tunnel.

MitigationApply the appropriate Junos OS software update for your version (19.3R3-S7, 19.4R2-S8/19.4R3-S10, 20.2R3-S6, 20.3R3-S5, 20.4R3-S5, 21.1R3-S4, 21.2R3, 21.3R3, or 21.4R2 and later). As a workaround, avoid using DH or ECDH groups in IPsec VPN configurations if upgrading is not immediately 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
JunosOperating system
Affected:= 19.3= 19.4= 20.2= 20.3= 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. Identify device model
    Run 'show chassis hardware' or 'show system information' to confirm the device is an SRX Series model
    Affected if Device is not an SRX Series device (vulnerability only affects SRX Series)
  2. Check Junos OS version
    Run 'show version' and compare the installed version against affected ranges: 19.3, 19.4, 20.2, 20.3, 20.4, 21.1, 21.2, 21.3, 21.4
    Affected if Version matches one of the affected versions listed in the CVE
  3. Verify IPsec VPN configuration exists
    Run 'show configuration security ipsec' to see if any IPsec VPN tunnels are configured
    Affected if No IPsec VPN tunnels are configured (vulnerability requires IPsec VPN to be present)
  4. Check for DH or ECDH groups in IPsec config
    Run 'show configuration security ipsec' and look for 'dh-group' or 'group' statements under IPsec proposal or policy configurations
    Affected if DH (Diffie-Hellman) or ECDH groups are configured in IPsec VPN settings - this is the required condition for the memory leak
  5. Monitor flowd memory usage
    Run 'show system processes extensive | match flowd' repeatedly over time to observe if memory usage steadily increases
    Affected if flowd process shows continuously increasing memory consumption, which indicates the memory leak is active

Device is affected if it is an SRX Series running a listed Junos version with an IPsec VPN configuration that uses DH or ECDH groups, showing symptoms of increasing flowd memory usage.

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 the appropriate Junos OS software update for your version (19.3R3-S7, 19.4R2-S8/19.4R3-S10, 20.2R3-S6, 20.3R3-S5, 20.4R3-S5, 21.1R3-S4, 21.2R3, 21.3R3, or 21.4R2 and later). As a workaround, avoid using DH or ECDH groups in IPsec VPN configurations if upgrading is not immediately feasible.

Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to 19.3R3-S7 or later (19.3 branch), 19.4R3-S10/19.4R2-S8 or later (19.4 branch), 20.2R3-S6 or later (20.2 branch), or 20.3R3-S5 or later (20.3 branch)

  1. Identify the current Junos OS version on the SRX Series device using 'show version'
  2. Determine which version branch the device is currently running (19.3, 19.4, 20.2, or 20.3)
  3. Back up the current device configuration using 'request system configuration rescue save'
  4. Schedule a maintenance window for the upgrade
  5. Upgrade to a fixed version: for 19.3 branch upgrade to 19.3R3-S7 or later; for 19.4 branch upgrade to 19.4R3-S10 or later (or 19.4R2-S8); for 20.2 branch upgrade to 20.2R3-S6 or later; for 20.3 branch upgrade to 20.3R3-S5 or later
  6. After upgrade, monitor the flowd process memory usage using 'show system processes extensive | match flowd' to verify the memory leak is resolved
Caveat Standard Junos OS upgrade considerations apply - verify hardware compatibility, review release notes for any behavior changes, and test configuration on a staging device before production deployment

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
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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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-2023-22417 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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