# CVE-2021-0290: Junos OS: MX Series, EX9200 Series, SRX4600: Ethernet interface vulnerable to specially crafted frames

> An attacker can cause a permanent denial of service on specific Juniper network interfaces by sending specially crafted Ethernet frames, requiring manual hardware reset.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:A/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:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 15 Jul 2021
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-j4m5-242v-49g4

## What is CVE-2021-0290?

CVE-2021-0290 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Juniper Junos, published on 15 Jul 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Improper Handling of Exceptional Conditions in Ethernet interface frame processing of Juniper Networks Junos OS allows an attacker to send specially crafted frames over the local Ethernet segment, causing the interface to go into a down state, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS) condition. The interface does not recover on its own and the FPC must be reset manually. Continued receipt and processing of these frames will create a sustained Denial of Service (DoS) condition. This issue is platform-specific and affects the following platforms and line cards: * MPC7E/8E/9E and MPC10E on MX240, MX480, MX960, MX2008, MX2010, and MX2020 * MX204, MX10003, MX10008, MX10016 * EX9200, EX9251 * SRX4600 No other products or platforms are affected by this vulnerability. An indication of this issue occurring can be seen in the system log messages, as shown below: user@host> show log messages | match "Failed to complete DFE tuning" fpc4 smic_phy_dfe_tuning_state: et-4/1/6 - Failed to complete DFE tuning (count 3) and interface will be in a permanently down state: user@host> show interfaces et-4/1/6 terse Interface Admin Link Proto Local Remote et-4/1/6 up down et-4/1/6.0 up down aenet --> ae101.0 This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS: 16.1 versions prior to 16.1R7-S7 on MX Series; 17.1R1 and later versions prior to 17.2R3-S3 on MX Series; 17.3 versions prior to 17.3R3-S8 on MX Series; 17.4 versions prior to 17.4R2-S11, 17.4R3-S1 on MX Series, SRX4600; 18.1 versions prior to 18.1R3-S10 on MX Series, EX9200 Series, SRX4600; 18.2 versions prior to 18.2R3-S3 on MX Series, EX9200 Series, SRX4600; 18.3 versions prior to 18.3R3-S1 on MX Series, EX9200 Series, SRX4600; 18.4 versions prior to 18.4R2-S3, 18.4R3 on MX Series, EX9200 Series, SRX4600; 19.1 versions prior to 19.1R2-S1, 19.1R3 on MX Series, EX9200 Series, SRX4600; 19.2 versions prior to 19.2R1-S3, 19.2R2 on MX Series, EX9200 Series, SRX4600; 19.3 versions prior to 19.3R2 on MX Series, EX9200 Series, SRX4600. This issue does not affect Juniper Networks Junos OS versions prior to 16.1R1.

Weakness: CWE-755 (Improper Handling of Exceptional Conditions)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-0290?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Juniper Junos.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-0290?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-0290 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-0290 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-0290 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-2021-0290 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-0290 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Juniper Junos, published on 15 Jul 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-0290 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-2021-0290/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-0290/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-0290
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-0290
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-0290

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-0290/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.