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JunosOperating system · Juniper

CVE-2023-44198

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-10-13
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 20.4 or later.
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 Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions vulnerability in the SIP ALG of Juniper Networks Junos OS on SRX Series and MX Series allows an unauthenticated network-based attacker to cause an integrity impact in connected networks. If the SIP ALG is configured and a device receives a specifically malformed SIP packet, the device prevents this packet from being forwarded, but any subsequently received retransmissions of the same packet are forwarded as if they were valid. This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS on SRX Series and MX Series: * 20.4 versions prior to 20.4R3-S5; * 21.1 versions prior to 21.1R3-S4; * 21.2 versions prior to 21.2R3-S4; * 21.3 versions prior to 21.3R3-S3; * 21.4 versions prior to 21.4R3-S2; * 22.1 versions prior to 22.1R2-S2, 22.1R3; * 22.2 versions prior to 22.2R2-S1, 22.2R3; * 22.3 versions prior to 22.3R1-S2, 22.3R2. This issue doesn't not affected releases prior to 20.4R1.

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 vulnerability in Juniper's SIP ALG on SRX and MX Series devices allows a network attacker to bypass integrity checks via packet retransmission. When a malformed SIP packet is initially blocked, subsequent retransmissions of that same packet are incorrectly forwarded as valid, bypassing the original security check.

MitigationDisable SIP ALG if not required in the SIP trunk/SVoIP deployment, or upgrade Junos OS to the specified patched versions (20.4R3-S5, 21.1R3-S4, 21.2R3-S4, 21.3R3-S3, 21.4R3-S2, 22.1R3, 22.2R3, or 22.3R2).

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:< 20.4= 20.4= 21.1= 21.2= 21.3= 21.4= 22.1= 22.2= 22.3

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
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check Junos OS version
    Run 'show version' or 'show version detail' to identify the installed Junos OS version
    Affected if The installed version is < 20.4, or equals 20.4, 21.1, 21.2, 21.3, 21.4, 22.1, 22.2, or 22.3
  2. Verify SIP ALG is enabled
    Run 'show security alg status' to check if SIP ALG is active
    Affected if SIP ALG status shows as enabled or running

The device is affected if it runs an affected Junos version AND has SIP ALG enabled.

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

Disable SIP ALG if not required in the SIP trunk/SVoIP deployment, or upgrade Junos OS to the specified patched versions (20.4R3-S5, 21.1R3-S4, 21.2R3-S4, 21.3R3-S3, 21.4R3-S2, 22.1R3, 22.2R3, or 22.3R2).

Recommended fix High confidence

20.4R3-S5 or later (for 20.4 branch); 21.1R3-S4 or later (for 21.1 branch); 21.2R3-S4 or later (for 21.2 branch); 21.3R3-S3 or later (for 21.3 branch); 21.4R3-S2 or later (for 21.4 branch); 22.1R3 (for 22.1 branch); 22.2R3 (for 22.2 branch); 22.3R2 (for 22.3 branch)

  1. 1. Verify the current Junos OS version on the device using 'show version'
  2. 2. Identify whether SIP ALG is enabled using 'show security alg sip'
  3. 3. If SIP ALG is not required, disable it as a temporary mitigation: 'set security alg sip disable'
  4. 4. For a permanent fix, plan an upgrade to a fixed release: 20.4R3-S5, 21.1R3-S4, 21.2R3-S4, 21.3R3-S3, 21.4R3-S2, 22.1R3, 22.2R3, or 22.3R2 (depending on your current branch)
  5. 5. Before upgrading, backup the current configuration using 'request system snapshot'
  6. 6. Download the appropriate Junos software from the Juniper support portal
  7. 7. Perform the upgrade using 'request system software add <package>'
  8. 8. Reboot the device after upgrade using 'request system reboot'
Caveat Review Juniper release notes for any breaking changes between your current version and target fixed version before upgrading

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

Fix this in Junos Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,280
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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-2023-44198 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
  • 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