CVE-2021-0259 Denial of service in Junos OS
An attacker on the overlay network can cause underlay network instability and denial of service by sending high volumes of legitimate traffic, triggering improper DDoS protection thresholds.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2021-0259?
CVE-2021-0259 is a high-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
Due to a vulnerability in DDoS protection in Juniper Networks Junos OS and Junos OS Evolved on QFX5K Series switches in a VXLAN configuration, instability might be experienced in the underlay network as a consequence of exceeding the default ddos-protection aggregate threshold. If an attacker on a client device on the overlay network sends a high volume of specific, legitimate traffic in the overlay network, due to an improperly detected DDoS violation, the leaf might not process certain L2 traffic, sent by spines in the underlay network. Continued receipt and processing of the high volume traffic will sustain the Denial of Service (DoS) condition. This issue affects: Juniper Networks Junos OS on QFX5K Series: 17.3 versions prior to 17.3R3-S11; 17.4 versions prior to 17.4R3-S5; 18.1 versions prior to 18.1R3-S13; 18.2 versions prior to 18.2R2-S8, 18.2R3-S8; 18.3 versions prior to 18.3R3-S5; 18.4 versions prior to 18.4R1-S8, 18.4R2-S6, 18.4R3-S6; 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-S1; 20.1 versions prior to 20.1R2; 20.2 versions prior to 20.2R2; 20.3 versions prior to 20.3R1-S2, 20.3R2. Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved on QFX5220: All versions prior to 20.3R2-EVO.
Weakness: CWE-755
Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-0259?
It affects 2 products.
Products include Juniper Junos, Juniper Junos Os Evolved.
How do I fix CVE-2021-0259?
No fix has been published for CVE-2021-0259 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-2021-0259 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-0259 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-m8qm-rfm2-9pjv.