# CVE-2020-1679: Denial of service in Junos OS

> Attackers can cause a denial of service by sending malformed packets to Juniper PTX/QFX devices with specific tunnel-observation configurations enabled.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 16 Oct 2020
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-j3g2-c2cf-7jfm

## What is CVE-2020-1679?

CVE-2020-1679 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Juniper Junos, published on 16 Oct 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

On Juniper Networks PTX and QFX Series devices with packet sampling configured using tunnel-observation mpls-over-udp, sampling of a malformed packet can cause the Kernel Routing Table (KRT) queue to become stuck. KRT is the module within the Routing Process Daemon (RPD) that synchronized the routing tables with the forwarding tables in the kernel. This table is then synchronized to the Packet Forwarding Engine (PFE) via the KRT queue. Thus, when KRT queue become stuck, it can lead to unexpected packet forwarding issues. An administrator can monitor the following command to check if there is the KRT queue is stuck: user@device > show krt state ... Number of async queue entries: 65007 <--- this value keep on increasing. When this issue occurs, the following message might appear in the /var/log/messages: DATE DEVICE kernel: %KERN-3: rt_pfe_veto: Too many delayed route/nexthop unrefs. Op 2 err 55, rtsm_id 5:-1, msg type 2 DATE DEVICE kernel: %KERN-3: rt_pfe_veto: Memory usage of M_RTNEXTHOP type = (0) Max size possible for M_RTNEXTHOP type = (7297134592) Current delayed unref = (60000), Current unique delayed unref = (18420), Max delayed unref on this platform = (40000) Current delayed weight unref = (60000) Max delayed weight unref on this platform= (400000) curproc = rpd This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS on PTX/QFX Series: 17.2X75 versions prior to 17.2X75-D105; 18.1 versions prior to 18.1R3-S11; 18.2 versions prior to 18.2R3-S5; 18.2X75 versions prior to 18.2X75-D420, 18.2X75-D53, 18.2X75-D65; 18.3 versions prior to 18.3R2-S4, 18.3R3-S3; 18.4 versions prior to 18.4R1-S7, 18.4R2-S5, 18.4R3-S4; 19.1 versions prior to 19.1R2-S2, 19.1R3-S2; 19.2 versions prior to 19.2R1-S5, 19.2R3; 19.3 versions prior to 19.3R2-S3, 19.3R3; 19.4 versions prior to 19.4R1-S2, 19.4R2-S1, 19.4R3; 20.1 versions prior to 20.1R1-S2, 20.1R2. This issue does not affect Juniper Networks Junos OS prior to 18.1R1.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-1679?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Juniper Junos.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-1679?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-1679 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-1679 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-1679 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-2020-1679 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-1679 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Juniper Junos, published on 16 Oct 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-2020-1679 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-2020-1679/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-1679/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-1679
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-1679
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-1679

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-1679/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.