CVE-2021-0238 Junos OS: MX Series: Executing CLI command repetitively may cause the system to run out of disk space
Repeated CLI execution on MX Series BNGs exhausts disk space, causing denial of service; administrators should upgrade Junos OS.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2021-0238?
CVE-2021-0238 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Juniper Junos, published on 22 Apr 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
When a MX Series is configured as a Broadband Network Gateway (BNG) based on Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP), executing certain CLI command may cause the system to run out of disk space, excessive disk usage may cause other complications. An administrator can use the following CLI command to monitor the available disk space: user@device> show system storage Filesystem Size Used Avail Capacity Mounted on /dev/gpt/junos 19G 18G 147M 99% /.mount <<<<< running out of space tmpfs 21G 16K 21G 0% /.mount/tmp tmpfs 5.3G 1.7M 5.3G 0% /.mount/mfs This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS on MX Series: 17.3R1 and later versions prior to 17.4R3-S5, 18.1 versions prior to 18.1R3-S13, 18.2 versions prior to 18.2R3-S7; 18.3 versions prior to 18.3R3-S4; 18.4 versions prior to 18.4R3-S7; 19.1 versions prior to 19.1R3-S4; 19.2 versions prior to 19.2R1-S6, 19.2R3-S2; 19.3 versions prior to 19.3R3-S2; 19.4 versions prior to 19.4R2-S4, 19.4R3-S2; 20.1 versions prior to 20.1R3; 20.2 versions prior to 20.2R2-S3, 20.2R3; 20.3 versions prior to 20.3R2; 20.4 versions prior to 20.4R1-S1, 20.4R2; This issue does not affect Juniper Networks Junos OS versions prior to 17.3R1.
Weakness: CWE-400
Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-0238?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Juniper Junos.
How do I fix CVE-2021-0238?
No fix has been published for CVE-2021-0238 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-2021-0238 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-0238 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-9f86-r87j-j422.