# CVE-2020-1655: Junos OS: MX Series: PFE crash on MPC7/8/9 upon receipt of large packets requiring fragmentation

> An attacker can cause a sustained Denial of Service on Juniper MX Series routers by sending fragmented packets when inline IP reassembly is configured.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 17 Jul 2020
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-g464-q8qp-3vg4

## What is CVE-2020-1655?

CVE-2020-1655 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Juniper Junos, published on 17 Jul 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

When a device running Juniper Networks Junos OS with MPC7, MPC8, or MPC9 line cards installed and the system is configured for inline IP reassembly, used by L2TP, MAP-E, GRE, and IPIP, the packet forwarding engine (PFE) will become disabled upon receipt of large packets requiring fragmentation, generating the following error messages: [LOG: Err] MQSS(0): WO: Packet Error - Error Packets 1, Connection 29 [LOG: Err] eachip_hmcif_rx_intr_handler(7259): EA[0:0]: HMCIF Rx: Injected checksum error detected on WO response - Chunk Address 0x0 [LOG: Err] MQSS(0): DRD: RORD1: CMD reorder ID error - Command 11, Reorder ID 1838, QID 0 [LOG: Err] MQSS(0): DRD: UNROLL0: HMC chunk length error in stage 5 - Chunk Address: 0x4321f3 [LOG: Err] MQSS(0): DRD: UNROLL0: HMC chunk address error in stage 5 - Chunk Address: 0x0 [LOG: Notice] Error: /fpc/8/pfe/0/cm/0/MQSS(0)/0/MQSS_CMERROR_DRD_RORD_ENG_INT_REG_CMD_FSM_STATE_ERR (0x2203cc), scope: pfe, category: functional, severity: major, module: MQSS(0), type: DRD_RORD_ENG_INT: CMD FSM State Error [LOG: Notice] Performing action cmalarm for error /fpc/8/pfe/0/cm/0/MQSS(0)/0/MQSS_CMERROR_DRD_RORD_ENG_INT_REG_CMD_FSM_STATE_ERR (0x2203cc) in module: MQSS(0) with scope: pfe category: functional level: major [LOG: Notice] Performing action get-state for error /fpc/8/pfe/0/cm/0/MQSS(0)/0/MQSS_CMERROR_DRD_RORD_ENG_INT_REG_CMD_FSM_STATE_ERR (0x2203cc) in module: MQSS(0) with scope: pfe category: functional level: major [LOG: Notice] Performing action disable-pfe for error /fpc/8/pfe/0/cm/0/MQSS(0)/0/MQSS_CMERROR_DRD_RORD_ENG_INT_REG_CMD_FSM_STATE_ERR (0x2203cc) in module: MQSS(0) with scope: pfe category: functional level: major By continuously sending fragmented packets that cannot be reassembled, an attacker can repeatedly disable the PFE causing a sustained Denial of Service (DoS). This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS: 17.2 versions prior to 17.2R3-S4 on MX Series; 17.3 versions prior to 17.3R3-S8 on MX Series; 17.4 versions prior to 17.4R2-S10, 17.4R3-S2 on MX Series; 18.1 versions prior to 18.1R3-S10 on MX Series; 18.2 versions prior to 18.2R3-S3 on MX Series; 18.2X75 versions prior to 18.2X75-D41, 18.2X75-D430, 18.2X75-D65 on MX Series; 18.3 versions prior to 18.3R1-S7, 18.3R2-S4, 18.3R3-S1 on MX Series; 18.4 versions prior to 18.4R1-S7, 18.4R2-S4, 18.4R3 on MX Series; 19.1 versions prior to 19.1R1-S5, 19.1R2-S1, 19.1R3 on MX Series; 19.2 versions prior to 19.2R1-S4, 19.2R2 on MX Series; 19.3 versions prior to 19.3R2-S2, 19.3R3 on MX Series. This issue is specific to inline IP reassembly, introduced in Junos OS 17.2. Versions of Junos OS prior to 17.2 are unaffected by this vulnerability.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-1655?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Juniper Junos.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-1655?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-1655 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-1655 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-1655 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Juniper Junos

- [CVE-2023-36845](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-36845/): Juniper Junos OS EX Series and SRX Series PHP External Variable Modification (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-1631](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-1631/): Juniper Junos OS Path Traversal (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-21590](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-21590/): Juniper Junos OS Improper Isolation or Compartmentalization (medium 6.7, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2023-36851](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-36851/): Juniper Junos OS SRX Series Missing Authentication for Critical Function (medium 5.3, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2023-36844](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-36844/): Juniper Junos OS EX Series PHP External Variable Modification (medium 5.3, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-1655 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-1655 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Juniper Junos, published on 17 Jul 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-1655 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Juniper Junos. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-1655/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-1655/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-1655
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-1655
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-1655

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-1655/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.