JunosOperating system · Juniper

CVE-2026-21921

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-01-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 22.4 or later.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 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 Use After Free vulnerability in the chassis daemon (chassisd) of Juniper Networks Junos OS and Junos OS Evolved allows a network-based attacker authenticated with low privileges to cause a Denial-of-Service (DoS). When telemetry collectors are frequently subscribing and unsubscribing to sensors continuously over a long period of time, telemetry-capable processes like chassisd, rpd or mib2d will crash and restart, which - depending on the process - can cause a complete outage until the system has recovered. This issue affects:  Junos OS:  * all versions before 22.4R3-S8, * 23.2 versions before 23.2R2-S5, * 23.4 versions before 23.4R2; Junos OS Evolved: * all versions before 22.4R3-S8-EVO, * 23.2 versions before 23.2R2-S5-EVO, * 23.4 versions before 23.4R2-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

A Use After Free vulnerability in the Junos OS chassis daemon (chassisd) allows an authenticated low-privilege network attacker to cause denial of service by repeatedly subscribing and unsubscribing to telemetry sensors, which triggers memory corruption and crashes in chassisd and related processes (rpd, mib2d), potentially causing complete system outage.

MitigationApply vendor patches (22.4R3-S8/23.2R2-S5/23.4R2 or later for Junos OS; equivalent EVO versions) or restrict and monitor telemetry subscription access to prevent abuse.

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:< 22.4= 22.4= 23.2= 23.4
Junos Os EvolvedOperating system
Affected:< 22.4= 22.4= 23.2= 23.4

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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. Check Junos OS version
    Run 'show version' command on the device CLI to obtain the installed Junos version
    Affected if The displayed version is < 22.4, = 22.4, = 23.2, or = 23.4
  2. Verify telemetry subscription capability
    Check if the telemetry sensor subscription feature is available by reviewing user role permissions with 'show system privilegege' or consulting your access control configuration
    Affected if Authenticated users with low-privilege accounts can subscribe to telemetry sensors
  3. Identify low-privilege accounts with telemetry access
    Review user accounts and their permissions, specifically looking for non-admin users with permissions to access the telemetry subscription API or gRPC service
    Affected if Low-privilege or non-administrative user accounts exist with permission to create or modify telemetry subscriptions
  4. Check for recent chassis daemon crashes
    Run 'show system core-dumps' and review /var/log/chassisd logs for any recent chassisd, rpd, or mib2d process crashes or restarts
    Affected if Recent crashes of chassisd or related processes (rpd, mib2d) are present in logs or core dumps
  5. Monitor for telemetry abuse patterns
    Review system logs and telemetry subscription activity for repeated rapid subscription/unsubscription events from the same source
    Affected if Evidence exists of repeated telemetry subscription and unsubscription cycles that could indicate exploitation attempts

Your environment is affected if you are running Junos OS or Junos OS Evolved version 22.4, 23.2, or 23.4 (or any version below 22.4) and low-privilege authenticated users have the ability to subscribe to telemetry sensors.

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 22.4 or later
Fixed in 22.4
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor patches (22.4R3-S8/23.2R2-S5/23.4R2 or later for Junos OS; equivalent EVO versions) or restrict and monitor telemetry subscription access to prevent abuse.

Recommended fix High confidence

22.4R3-S8, 23.2R2-S5, or 23.4R2 (or later for respective Junos OS/Evolved branches)

  1. 1. Identify the current Junos OS or Junos OS Evolved version running on the device using 'show version'
  2. 2. Determine the appropriate upgrade path based on current version (22.4, 23.2, or 23.4 series)
  3. 3. Download the required fixed release: For 22.4 branch use 22.4R3-S8 (or later), for 23.2 branch use 23.2R2-S5 or later, for 23.4 branch use 23.4R2 or later
  4. 4. For Junos OS Evolved, use corresponding EVO images: 22.4R3-S8-EVO, 23.2R2-S5-EVO, or 23.4R2-EVO
  5. 5. Upload the upgrade package to the device's /var/tmp directory
  6. 6. Verify the package integrity using 'request system software validate <package>'
  7. 7. Execute the upgrade with 'request system software add <package>' and appropriate options (e.g., reboot for minor upgrades)
  8. 8. After reboot, verify the new version is installed using 'show version'
Caveat Standard Junos upgrade precautions apply: review release notes for known issues, ensure configuration compatibility, and plan maintenance window as upgrades may cause brief service disruption

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
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,130
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,408.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-21921 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-21921 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