CVE-2024-21609
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 · uneditedA Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime vulnerability in the IKE daemon (iked) of Juniper Networks Junos OS on MX Series with SPC3, and SRX Series allows an administratively adjacent attacker which is able to successfully establish IPsec tunnels to cause a Denial of Service (DoS). If specific values for the IPsec parameters local-ip, remote-ip, remote ike-id, and traffic selectors are sent from the peer, a memory leak occurs during every IPsec SA rekey which is carried out with a specific message sequence. This will eventually result in an iked process crash and restart. The iked process memory consumption can be checked using the below command: user@host> show system processes extensive | grep iked PID USERNAME PRI NICE SIZE RES STATE C TIME WCPU COMMAND 56903 root 31 0 4016M 2543M CPU0 0 2:10 10.50% iked This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS: * All versions earlier than 20.4R3-S9; * 21.2 versions earlier than 21.2R3-S7; * 21.3 versions earlier than 21.3R3-S5; * 21.4 versions earlier than 21.4R3-S4; * 22.1 versions earlier than 22.1R3-S3; * 22.2 versions earlier than 22.2R3-S2; * 22.3 versions earlier than 22.3R3; * 22.4 versions earlier than 22.4R3; * 23.2 versions earlier than 23.2R1-S2, 23.2R2.
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 confidenceA missing release of memory in the IKE daemon (iked) of Juniper Junos OS on MX and SRX Series allows an adjacent attacker who can establish IPsec tunnels to trigger a memory leak during IPsec SA rekey operations when specific IPsec parameters (local-ip, remote-ip, remote ike-id, traffic selectors) are sent by the peer. The memory accumulates with each rekey until the iked process crashes, causing denial of service.
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< 20.4= 20.4= 21.2= 21.3= 21.4= 22.1= 22.2= 22.3= 22.4= 23.2CVSS 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
- Adjacent
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the Junos OS versionRun 'show version' on the device CLI to obtain the installed software version.Affected if The version matches any of these: any release before 20.4, 20.4 (any version), 21.2, 21.3, 21.4, 22.1, 22.2, 22.3, 22.4, or 23.2.
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Confirm the device is MX or SRX seriesRun 'show chassis hardware' or 'show system information' to identify the hardware model.Affected if The device is an MX Series router or SRX Series firewall.
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Verify IPsec is configured and iked is activeRun 'show security ike security-associations' to list active IKE SAs, and 'show system processes' to confirm the iked process is running.Affected if IPsec tunnels exist and the iked process is running.
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Check for IPsec tunnel configurations with vulnerable parametersRun 'show configuration security ipsec' to view IPsec configuration. Look for tunnels using local-ip, remote-ip, remote-ike-id, or traffic-selector configurations.Affected if IPsec tunnels are configured with any of these parameters: local-ip, remote-ip, remote ike-id, or traffic selectors.
The environment is affected if the device runs a Junos OS version in the affected list, is an MX or SRX Series, has IPsec tunnels configured with the specific parameters, and the iked process is active.
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 · scoped20.4
Apply the appropriate Junos OS software update from the affected version list (20.4R3-S9, 21.2R3-S7, 21.3R3-S5, 21.4R3-S4, 22.1R3-S3, 22.2R3-S2, 22.3R3, 22.4R3, or 23.2R1-S2/23.2R2) after verifying compatibility in a test environment.
22.4R3 or later (or the latest available 22.4R3-Sx release); alternatively 23.2R1-S2/23.2R2 or later if moving to the 23.2 branch
- 1. Identify the current Junos OS version running on the device using 'show version'
- 2. Determine the appropriate upgrade path based on the current version branch (20.4, 21.2, 21.3, 21.4, 22.1, 22.2, 22.3, 22.4, or 23.2)
- 3. Download the corresponding fixed release from Juniper Networks support portal: for 20.4 branch use 20.4R3-S9 or later, for 21.2 use 21.2R3-S7 or later, for 21.3 use 21.3R3-S5 or later, for 21.4 use 21.4R3-S4 or later, for 22.1 use 22.1R3-S3 or later, for 22.2 use 22.2R3-S2 or later, for 22.3 use 22.3R3 or later, for 22.4 use 22.4R3 or later, for 23.2 use 23.2R1-S2 or 23.2R2 or later
- 4. Upload the Junos upgrade package to the device using 'file copy' or USB storage
- 5. Execute the upgrade command: 'request system software add <package name> no-validate reboot'
- 6. After reboot, verify the new version is installed: 'show version'
- 7. Monitor iked process memory usage: 'show system processes extensive | grep iked' to confirm the memory leak is resolved
- 8. Verify IPsec tunnels are operational: 'show security ipsec security-associations'
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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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-21609 — 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-2024-21609 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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