CVE-2021-0273 Junos OS and Junos OS Evolved: Trio Chipset: Denial of Service due to packet destined to device's interfaces.
An attacker can cause a sustained denial of service on specific Juniper network devices by sending packets that trigger an infinite loop in the Trio chipset microcode.
- 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-2021-0273?
CVE-2021-0273 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Juniper Junos, published on 22 Apr 2021. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
An always-incorrect control flow implementation in the implicit filter terms of Juniper Networks Junos OS and Junos OS Evolved on ACX5800, EX9200 Series, MX10000 Series, MX240, MX480, MX960 devices with affected Trio line cards allows an attacker to exploit an interdependency in the PFE UCODE microcode of the Trio chipset with various line cards to cause packets destined to the devices interfaces to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) condition by looping the packet with an unreachable exit condition ('Infinite Loop'). To break this loop once it begins one side of the affected LT interfaces will need to be disabled. Once disabled, the condition will clear and the disabled LT interface can be reenabled. Continued receipt and processing of these packets will create a sustained Denial of Service (DoS) condition. This issue only affects LT-LT interfaces. Any other interfaces are not affected by this issue. This issue affects the following cards: MPCE Type 3 3D MPC4E 3D 32XGE MPC4E 3D 2CGE+8XGE EX9200 32x10G SFP EX9200-2C-8XS FPC Type 5-3D FPC Type 5-LSR EX9200 4x40G QSFP An Indicator of Compromise (IoC) can be seen by examining the traffic of the LT-LT interfaces for excessive traffic using the following command: monitor interface traffic Before loop impact: Interface: lt-2/0/0, Enabled, Link is Up Encapsulation: Logical-tunnel, Speed: 100000mbps Traffic statistics: Current delta Input bytes: 3759900268942 (1456 bps) [0] <---------- LT interface utilization is low Output bytes: 3759900344309 (1456 bps) [0] <---------- LT interface utilization is low After loop impact: Interface: lt-2/0/0, Enabled, Link is Up Encapsulation: Logical-tunnel, Speed: 100000mbps Traffic statistics: Current delta Input bytes: 3765160313129 (2158268368 bps) [5260044187] <---------- LT interface utilization is very high Output bytes: 3765160399522 (2158266440 bps) [5260055213] <---------- LT interface utilization is very high This issue affects: Juniper Networks Junos OS on ACX5800, EX9200 Series, MX10000 Series, MX240, MX480, MX960. Versions 15.1F6, 16.1R1, and later versions prior to 16.1R7-S8; 17.1 versions prior to 17.1R2-S12; 17.2 versions prior to 17.2R3-S4; 17.3 versions prior to 17.3R3-S8; 17.4 versions prior to 17.4R2-S10, 17.4R3-S2; 18.1 versions prior to 18.1R3-S10; 18.2 versions prior to 18.2R2-S7, 18.2R3-S3; 18.3 versions prior to 18.3R1-S7, 18.3R3-S2; 18.4 versions prior to 18.4R1-S7, 18.4R2-S4, 18.4R3-S2; 19.1 versions prior to 19.1R1-S5, 19.1R2-S1, 19.1R3; 19.2 versions prior to 19.2R1-S4, 19.2R2; 19.3 versions prior to 19.3R2-S3, 19.3R3; 19.4 versions prior to 19.4R1-S1, 19.4R2. This issue does not affect the MX10001. This issue does not affect Juniper Networks Junos OS versions prior to 15.1F6, 16.1R1. Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved on ACX5800, EX9200 Series, MX10000 Series, MX240, MX480, MX960 19.4 versions prior to 19.4R2-EVO. This issue does not affect the MX10001.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-0273?
It affects 2 products.
Products include Juniper Junos, Juniper Junos Os Evolved.
How do I fix CVE-2021-0273?
No fix has been published for CVE-2021-0273 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-2021-0273 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-0273 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-6cmc-3j92-722g.