CVE-2023-22397

Junos OS Evolved: PTX10003: An attacker sending specific genuine packets will cause a memory leak in the PFE leading to a Denial of Service

Description

An Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling weakness in the memory management of the Packet Forwarding Engine (PFE) on Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved PTX10003 Series devices allows an adjacently located attacker who has established certain preconditions and knowledge of the environment to send certain specific genuine packets to begin a Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition attack which will cause a memory leak to begin. Once this condition begins, and as long as the attacker is able to sustain the offending traffic, a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) event occurs. As a DDoS event, the offending packets sent by the attacker will continue to flow from one device to another as long as they are received and processed by any devices, ultimately causing a cascading outage to any vulnerable devices. Devices not vulnerable to the memory leak will process and forward the offending packet(s) to neighboring devices. Due to internal anti-flood security controls and mechanisms reaching their maximum limit of response in the worst-case scenario, all affected Junos OS Evolved devices will reboot in as little as 1.5 days. Reboots to restore services cannot be avoided once the memory leak begins. The device will self-recover after crashing and rebooting. Operator intervention isn't required to restart the device. This issue affects: Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved on PTX10003: All versions prior to 20.4R3-S4-EVO; 21.3 versions prior to 21.3R3-S1-EVO; 21.4 versions prior to 21.4R2-S2-EVO, 21.4R3-EVO; 22.1 versions prior to 22.1R1-S2-EVO, 22.1R2-EVO; 22.2 versions prior to 22.2R2-EVO. To check memory, customers may VTY to the PFE first then execute the following show statement: show jexpr jtm ingress-main-memory chip 255 | no-more Alternatively one may execute from the RE CLI: request pfe execute target fpc0 command "show jexpr jtm ingress-main-memory chip 255 | no-more" Iteration 1: Example output: Mem type: NH, alloc type: JTM 136776 bytes used (max 138216 bytes used) 911568 bytes available (909312 bytes from free pages) Iteration 2: Example output: Mem type: NH, alloc type: JTM 137288 bytes used (max 138216 bytes used) 911056 bytes available (909312 bytes from free pages) The same can be seen in the CLI below, assuming the scale does not change: show npu memory info Example output: FPC0:NPU16 mem-util-jnh-nh-size 2097152 FPC0:NPU16 mem-util-jnh-nh-allocated 135272 FPC0:NPU16 mem-util-jnh-nh-utilization 6

Remediation

Solution:

  • The following software releases have been updated to resolve these specific issues: Junos OS Evolved: 20.4R3-S4-EVO, 21.3R3-S1-EVO, 21.4R2-S2-EVO, 21.4R3-EVO, 22.1R1-S2-EVO, 22.1R2-EVO, 22.1R3-EVO, 22.2R1-S1-EVO, 22.2R2-EVO, 22.3R1-EVO, and all subsequent releases.

Workaround:

  • There are no known workarounds for this issue. To reduce impact due to unplanned reboots customers may review memory thresholds as above and decide to reboot devices proactively to clear memory during planned maintenance windows.

Category

6.1
CVSS
Severity: Medium
CVSS 3.1 •
EPSS 0.06%
Vendor Advisory juniper.net
Affected: Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved
Published at:
Updated at:

References

Link Tags
https://kb.juniper.net/JSA70193 vendor advisory

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the severity of CVE-2023-22397?
CVE-2023-22397 has been scored as a medium severity vulnerability.
How to fix CVE-2023-22397?
To fix CVE-2023-22397: The following software releases have been updated to resolve these specific issues: Junos OS Evolved: 20.4R3-S4-EVO, 21.3R3-S1-EVO, 21.4R2-S2-EVO, 21.4R3-EVO, 22.1R1-S2-EVO, 22.1R2-EVO, 22.1R3-EVO, 22.2R1-S1-EVO, 22.2R2-EVO, 22.3R1-EVO, and all subsequent releases.
Is CVE-2023-22397 being actively exploited in the wild?
As for now, there are no information to confirm that CVE-2023-22397 is being actively exploited. According to its EPSS score, there is a ~0% probability that this vulnerability will be exploited by malicious actors in the next 30 days.
What software or system is affected by CVE-2023-22397?
CVE-2023-22397 affects Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved.
This platform uses data from the NIST NVD, MITRE CVE, MITRE CWE, First.org and CISA KEV but is not endorsed or certified by these entities. CVE is a registred trademark of the MITRE Corporation and the authoritative source of CVE content is MITRE's CVE web site. CWE is a registred trademark of the MITRE Corporation and the authoritative source of CWE content is MITRE's CWE web site.
© 2025 Under My Watch. All Rights Reserved.