CVE-2016-4921 Junos: IPv6 denial of service vulnerability due to resource exhaustion (CVE-2016-4921)
Attackers can cause denial of service or kernel panic on Juniper routers by flooding them with crafted IPv6 traffic if IPv6 is enabled.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2016-4921?
CVE-2016-4921 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Juniper Junos, published on 13 Oct 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
By flooding a Juniper Networks router running Junos OS with specially crafted IPv6 traffic, all available resources can be consumed, leading to the inability to store next hop information for legitimate traffic. In extreme cases, the crafted IPv6 traffic may result in a total resource exhaustion and kernel panic. The issue is triggered by traffic destined to the router. Transit traffic does not trigger the vulnerability. This issue only affects devices with IPv6 enabled and configured. Devices not configured to process IPv6 traffic are unaffected by this vulnerability. This issue was found during internal product security testing. Juniper SIRT is not aware of any malicious exploitation of this vulnerability. Affected releases are Juniper Networks Junos OS 11.4 prior to 11.4R13-S3; 12.3 prior to 12.3R3-S4; 12.3X48 prior to 12.3X48-D30; 13.3 prior to 13.3R10, 13.3R4-S11; 14.1 prior to 14.1R2-S8, 14.1R4-S12, 14.1R8; 14.1X53 prior to 14.1X53-D28, 14.1X53-D40; 14.1X55 prior to 14.1X55-D35; 14.2 prior to 14.2R3-S10, 14.2R4-S7, 14.2R6; 15.1 prior to 15.1F2-S5, 15.1F5-S2, 15.1F6, 15.1R3; 15.1X49 prior to 15.1X49-D40; 15.1X53 prior to 15.1X53-D57, 15.1X53-D70.
Weakness: CWE-399
Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-4921?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Juniper Junos.
How do I fix CVE-2016-4921?
No fix has been published for CVE-2016-4921 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2016-4921 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-4921 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Juniper Junos
- CVE-2023-36845 Juniper Junos OS EX Series and SRX Series PHP External Variable Modification
- CVE-2020-1631 Juniper Junos OS Path Traversal
- CVE-2025-21590 Juniper Junos OS Improper Isolation or Compartmentalization
- CVE-2023-36851 Juniper Junos OS SRX Series Missing Authentication for Critical Function
- CVE-2023-36844 Juniper Junos OS EX Series PHP External Variable Modification
Sources
Also known as GHSA-mh47-23hp-5vf8.