# CVE-2023-22414: Denial of service in Junos OS

> An adjacent attacker can cause a memory leak and crash the Flexible PIC Concentrator by sending specific EVPN VXLAN Multicast packets.

- **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:** 12 Jan 2023
- **Updated:** 7 Apr 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-phmh-wx44-p7vq

## What is CVE-2023-22414?

CVE-2023-22414 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Juniper Junos, published on 12 Jan 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime vulnerability in Flexible PIC Concentrator (FPC) of Juniper Networks Junos OS allows an adjacent, unauthenticated attacker from the same shared physical or logical network, to cause a heap memory leak and leading to FPC crash. On all Junos PTX Series and QFX10000 Series, when specific EVPN VXLAN Multicast packets are processed, an FPC heap memory leak is observed. The FPC memory usage can be monitored using the CLI command "show heap extensive". Following is an example output. ID Base Total(b) Free(b) Used(b) % Name Peak used % -- -------- --------- --------- --------- --- ----------- ----------- 0 37dcf000 3221225472 1694526368 1526699104 47 Kernel 47 1 17dcf000 1048576 1048576 0 0 TOE DMA 0 2 17ecf000 1048576 1048576 0 0 DMA 0 3 17fcf000 534773760 280968336 253805424 47 Packet DMA 47 This issue affects: Juniper Networks Junos OS PTX Series and QFX10000 Series 20.2 versions prior to 20.2R3-S6; 20.3 versions prior to 20.3R3-S6; 20.4 versions prior to 20.4R3-S4; 21.1 versions prior to 21.1R3-S3; 21.2 versions prior to 21.2R3-S1; 21.3 versions prior to 21.3R3; 21.4 versions prior to 21.4R3; 22.1 versions prior to 22.1R2; 22.2 versions prior to 22.2R2. This issue does not affect Juniper Networks Junos OS versions prior to 20.1R1 on PTX Series and QFX10000 Series.

Weakness: CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-22414?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Juniper Junos.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-22414?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-22414 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-22414 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-22414 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-2023-22414 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-22414 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Juniper Junos, published on 12 Jan 2023. 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-2023-22414 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-2023-22414/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-22414/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-22414
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-22414
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-22414

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-22414/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.