An insecure SSHD configuration in Juniper Device Manager (JDM) and host OS on Juniper NFX Series devices may allow remote unauthenticated access if any of the passwords on the system are empty. The affected SSHD configuration has the PermitEmptyPasswords option set to " yes ".

Affected releases are Juniper Networks Junos OS:

• 18.1 versions prior to 18.1R4 on NFX Series.

This issue is only exploitable when there are user or system accounts with blank or empty passwords configured on JDM or host OS.

Juniper SIRT is not aware of any malicious exploitation of this vulnerability.

This issue was found during internal product security testing or research.

This issue has been assigned  CVE-2018-0044 .
 

PermitEmptyPasswords option has been set to no by default in the fixed versions of Junos OS.

The following software releases have been updated to resolve this specific issue: 18.1R4, 18.2R1 and all subsequent releases.

This issue is being tracked as PR  1344176  which is visible on the Customer Support website.

Note: Juniper SIRT's  policy  is not to evaluate releases which are beyond End of Engineering (EOE) or End of Life (EOL).
 

Software Releases, patches and updates are available at  https://www.juniper.net/support/downloads/ .
 

Ensure all the accounts on the JDM and host OS are configured with a password.

Ensure that /etc/ssh/sshd_config file on JDM and host OS have the configuration

2018-10-10: Initial publication

• KB16613: Overview of the Juniper Networks SIRT Monthly Security Bulletin Publication Process [juniper.net]
• KB16765: In which releases are vulnerabilities fixed? [juniper.net]
• KB16446: Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) and Juniper's Security Advisories [juniper.net]
• Report a Vulnerability - How to Contact the Juniper Networks Security Incident Response Team