This article provides a solution and explanation for why BGP routes received from one VRF would be hidden with the reason “AS path loop” when it has the same “local-as” number as its peer-as number on another VRF.

• PE1 and PE2 has 2 VRF routing instance. 
• PE1 has local-as 65195 configurations on bgp peering to B-CE1 under routing-instance VRF-B.

user@PE1> show route table VRF-A.inet.0 192.168.1.0 hidden detail
 
VRF-A.inet.0: 4 destinations, 4 routes (3 active, 0 holddown, 1 hidden)
192.168.1.0/24 (1 entry, 0 announced)
         BGP                 /-101
                Route Distinguisher: 64515:68062
                Next hop type: Indirect, Next hop index: 0
                Address: 0xb63d650
                Next-hop reference count: 5
                Source: 10.10.0.7
                Next hop type: Router, Next hop index: 1477
                Next hop: 20.20.69.254 via lt-0/0/0.0, selected
                Label operation: Push 16
                Label TTL action: prop-ttl
                Load balance label: Label 16: None;
                Label element ptr: 0xb63d580
                Label parent element ptr: 0xb63d3a0
                Label element references: 1
                Label element child references: 0
                Label element lsp id: 0
                Session Id: 0x229
                Protocol next hop: 30.30.112.76
                Label operation: Push 16
                Label TTL action: prop-ttl
                Load balance label: Label 16: None;
                Indirect next hop: 0xd288100 1048575 INH Session ID: 0x230
                State: <Secondary Hidden Int Ext ProtectionCand>
                Local AS:  64515 Peer AS:  64515
                Age: 40:43      Metric2: 1
                Validation State: unverified
                Task: BGP_64515.10.10.0.7+63859
                AS path: 65195 I  (Originator) (Looped: 65195) 
                Cluster list:  10.10.0.7
                Originator ID: 30.30.112.76
                Communities: target:64515:1040
                Import
                VPN Label: 16
                Localpref: 100
                Router ID: 10.10.0.7
                Hidden reason: AS path loop        <<<<<< Hidden reason
                Primary Routing Table bgp.l3vpn.0

By default, BGP in all routing instances (including primary/global routing-instance) uses a single local AS-path domain for its Loop Detection Mechanism.  AS numbers configured under “routing-option” and “local-as” hierarchy are uniquely stored in this single local AS-path domain on each device.  For example, if a device has local-as 65195 number configured under a different VRF routing-instance, it will show only one in AS domain.

PE1 configuration:

 Add “ independent-domain ” to maintain the independence of local ASs in the routing-instance and perform BGP loop detection only for the specified local ASs in the routing instance.

It is recommended to add “ no-attrset ” configuration to not use "attr 128" message to tunnel it.  For more information about undesired cases, refer to RFC-4271 and JSA10458 - BGP UPDATE with malformed Path Attribute tears down BGP session [juniper.net]

PE1 configuration:

set routing-options autonomous-system 64515
set routing-instances VPN-B routing-options autonomous-system 65000 independent-domain no-attrset
set routing-instances VPN-B protocols bgp group VPN-B-CE neighbor 192.168.0.229 local-as 65195
 
user@PE1> show as-path domain
Domain: 1        Primary: 64515
    References:          5 Paths:          6
    Flags: Master         
    Local AS: 64515   Loops: 1    
Domain: 2        Primary: 65000
    References:          1 Paths:          4
    Local AS: 65000  Loops: 1    
    Local AS: 65195  Loops: 1    

Result  :

  user@PE1> show route table VRF-A.inet.0 192.168.1.0 detail
 
VRF-A.inet.0: 4 destinations, 4 routes (4 active, 0 holddown,  0 hidden )    <<< this route is no longer hidden.
192.168.1.0/24 (1 entry, 1 announced)
        *BGP    Preference: 170/-101
                Route Distinguisher: 64515:68062
                Next hop type: Indirect, Next hop index: 0
                Address: 0xc8ed5b0
                Next-hop reference count: 6
                Source: 10.10.0.7
                Next hop type: Router, Next hop index: 1598
                Next hop: 20.20.69.254 via lt-0/0/0.0, selected
                Label operation: Push 16
                Label TTL action: prop-ttl
                Load balance label: Label 16: None;
                Label element ptr: 0xc8ed4e0
                Label parent element ptr: 0xc8ed000
                Label element references: 1
                Label element child references: 0
                Label element lsp id: 0
                Session Id: 0x149
                Protocol next hop: 30.30.112.76
                Label operation: Push 16
                Label TTL action: prop-ttl
                Load balance label: Label 16: None;
                Indirect next hop: 0xf08fd40 1048575 INH Session ID: 0x14d
                State: <Secondary Active Int Ext ProtectionCand>
                Local AS:  64515 Peer AS:  64515
                Age: 2:19:41    Metric2: 1
                Validation State: unverified
                Task: BGP_64515.10.10.0.7
                Announcement bits (1): 0-KRT
                AS path: 65195 I  (Originator)
                Cluster list:  10.10.0.7
                Originator ID: 30.30.112.76
                Communities: target: 64515:1040
                Import Accepted
                VPN Label: 16
                Localpref: 100
                Router ID: 201.125.0.7
                Primary Routing Table bgp.l3vpn.0

Additionally, the same ASN of VRF routing-instance as ASN of the primary routing-instance can be used.  The “ alias ” configuration needs to be added in this case. 

PE1 configuration: