CVE-2023-28971
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 · uneditedAn Improper Restriction of Communication Channel to Intended Endpoints vulnerability in the timescaledb feature of Juniper Networks Paragon Active Assurance (PAA) (Formerly Netrounds) allows an attacker to bypass existing firewall rules and limitations used to restrict internal communcations. The Test Agents (TA) Appliance connects to the Control Center (CC) using OpenVPN. TA's are assigned an internal IP address in the 100.70.0.0/16 range. Firewall rules exists to limit communication from TA's to the CC to specific services only. OpenVPN is configured to not allow direct communication between Test Agents in the OpenVPN application itself, and routing is normally not enabled on the server running the CC application. The timescaledb feature is installed as an optional package on the Control Center. When the timescaledb container is started, this causes side-effects by bypassing the existing firewall rules and limitations for Test Agent communications. Note: This issue only affects customers hosting their own on-prem Control Center. The Paragon Active Assurance Software as a Service (SaaS) is not affected by this vulnerability since the timescaledb service is not enabled. This issue affects all on-prem versions of Juniper Networks Paragon Active Assurance prior to 4.1.2.
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 confidenceThe timescaledb container in Juniper Paragon Active Assurance Control Center creates an unintended side-effect that bypasses existing firewall rules restricting Test Agent communications. When the timescaledb container starts, it opens communication pathways that circumvent the firewall limitations meant to restrict Test Agents (IP range 100.70.0.0/16) to specific allowed services only.
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< 4.1.2CVSS 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
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Paragon Active Assurance versionCheck the installed version of Juniper Paragon Active Assurance Control Center by reviewing the system version information in the administration interface or using the command 'show version' if available via CLI access.Affected if The installed version is lower than 4.1.2 (e.g., 4.1.1, 4.0.x, 3.x)
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Confirm timescaledb container is runningList running containers or services on the Control Center system and identify if the timescaledb container is active. Use container runtime commands like 'docker ps' or 'podman ps' to enumerate running containers.Affected if The timescaledb container is running and actively communicating on the network.
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Inspect firewall rules for Test Agent restrictionsReview the firewall configuration on the Control Center to confirm rules exist that should restrict Test Agent communications (IP range 100.70.0.0/16) to specific allowed services only.Affected if Firewall rules restricting 100.70.0.0/16 traffic are present but timescaledb is running.
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Detect unexpected network pathways from timescaledbUse network inspection tools (such as 'ss', 'netstat', or packet capture) to observe which network ports and interfaces the timescaledb container is binding to or communicating through.Affected if Timescaledb is listening on ports or communicating via interfaces that should be blocked by the Test Agent firewall rules.
A system is affected if it runs Juniper Paragon Active Assurance version below 4.1.2 with the timescaledb container active, which creates network pathways that bypass firewall restrictions on Test Agent IP range 100.70.0.0/16.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 · scoped4.1.2
Upgrade to Paragon Active Assurance version 4.1.2 or later, or disable the timescaledb service if not needed, to restore proper firewall enforcement for Test Agent communications.
Paragon Active Assurance version 4.1.2 or later
- 1. Identify the current version of Paragon Active Assurance Control Center by checking the system information in the web interface or using the CLI command 'paa-cc version'
- 2. Access the Juniper Networks support portal at supportportal.juniper.net and download Paragon Active Assurance version 4.1.2 or later
- 3. Follow the official upgrade procedure documented in the Paragon Active Assurance Administration Guide - typically involves backing up the current configuration, uploading the new software image, and running the upgrade script
- 4. After the upgrade completes, verify the system is running version 4.1.2 or later using 'paa-cc version'
- 5. Confirm that the timescaledb container is running correctly and that firewall rules are properly enforcing communication restrictions between Test Agents and Control Center services
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-28971 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-28971 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
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