# CVE-2021-31366: Denial of service in Junos OS

> An adjacent attacker can crash the authentication daemon on Juniper MX Series devices configured for subscriber management by sending a specific username, causing a Denial of Service.

- **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:** 19 Oct 2021
- **Updated:** 17 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-88jm-v6gw-45j8

## What is CVE-2021-31366?

CVE-2021-31366 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Juniper Junos, published on 19 Oct 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An Unchecked Return Value vulnerability in the authd (authentication daemon) of Juniper Networks Junos OS on MX Series configured for subscriber management / BBE allows an adjacent attacker to cause a crash by sending a specific username. This impacts authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) services on the MX devices and leads to a Denial of Service (DoS) condition. Continued receipted of these PPP login request will create a sustained Denial of Service (DoS) condition. This issue affects: Juniper Networks Junos OS 15.1 versions prior to 15.1R7-S9; 17.3 versions prior to 17.3R3-S12; 17.4 versions prior to 17.4R3-S5; 18.1 versions prior to 18.1R3-S13; 18.2 versions prior to 18.2R3-S8; 18.3 versions prior to 18.3R3-S5; 18.4 versions prior to 18.4R3-S9; 19.1 versions prior to 19.1R3-S6; 19.2 versions prior to 19.2R1-S7, 19.2R3-S3; 19.3 versions prior to 19.3R2-S6, 19.3R3-S3; 19.4 versions prior to 19.4R3-S3; 20.1 versions prior to 20.1R3; 20.2 versions prior to 20.2R3-S1; 20.3 versions prior to 20.3R3; 20.4 versions prior to 20.4R3; 21.1 versions prior to 21.1R2.

Weakness: CWE-252 (Unchecked Return Value)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-31366?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Juniper Junos.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-31366?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-31366 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-31366 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-31366 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-2021-31366 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-31366 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Juniper Junos, published on 19 Oct 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-2021-31366 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-2021-31366/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-31366/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-31366
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-31366
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-31366

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-31366/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.