A NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability in the Packet Forwarding Engine (pfe) of Juniper Networks Junos OS allows a local, low-privileged attacker to cause a Denial-of-Service (DoS).

When a specific command is executed, the pfe crashes. This will cause traffic forwarding to be interrupted until the system self-recovers. Repeated execution will create a sustained DoS condition.

This issue only affects MX Series devices with Line cards MPC1-MPC9.

This issue affects:
Junos OS on MX Series:

• All versions before 21.4R3-S9,
• from 22.2 before 22.2R3-S5, 
• from 22.3 before 22.3R3-S4,
• from 22.4 before 22.4R3-S2,
• from 23.2 before 23.2R2-S1,
• from 23.4 before 23.4R2.

The following software releases of Junos OS have been updated to resolve this specific issue: 21.4R3-S9, 22.2R3-S5*, 22.3R3-S4*, 22.4R3-S2, 23.2R2-S1, 23.4R2, 24.2R1 and all subsequent releases.

* Pending Release

This issue is being tracked as 1784593 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).

There are no known workarounds for this issue.
Use access lists or firewall filters to limit access to the CLI only from trusted hosts and administrators.

2024-10-09: Initial Publication

• KB16613: Overview of the Juniper Networks SIRT Quarterly 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 Security Vulnerability - How to Contact the Juniper Networks Security Incident Response Team