# CVE-2022-22231: Null dereference in Junos OS

> An unauthenticated attacker can crash the Packet Forwarding Engine on Juniper SRX devices by sending specific traffic when UTM features are enabled.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 18 Oct 2022
- **Updated:** 12 May 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-cxvj-jx5h-9xf2

## What is CVE-2022-22231?

CVE-2022-22231 is a high-severity vulnerability in Juniper Junos, published on 18 Oct 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An Unchecked Return Value to NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability in Packet Forwarding Engine (PFE) of Juniper Networks Junos OS allows an unauthenticated, network-based attacker to cause a Denial of Service (DoS). On SRX Series if Unified Threat Management (UTM) Enhanced Content Filtering (CF) and AntiVirus (AV) are enabled together and the system processes specific valid transit traffic the Packet Forwarding Engine (PFE) will crash and restart. This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS 21.4 versions prior to 21.4R1-S2, 21.4R2 on SRX Series. This issue does not affect Juniper Networks Junos OS versions prior to 21.4R1.

Weakness: CWE-252 (Unchecked Return Value), CWE-690 (Unchecked Return Value to NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-22231?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Juniper Junos.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-22231?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-22231 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-22231 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-22231 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-2022-22231 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-22231 is a high-severity vulnerability in Juniper Junos, published on 18 Oct 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-22231 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-2022-22231/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-22231/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-22231
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-22231
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-22231

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-22231/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.