# CVE-2023-28959: Junos OS: QFX10002: PFE wedges and restarts upon receipt of specific malformed packets

> An unauthenticated adjacent attacker can cause a Denial of Service on Juniper QFX10002 switches by sending specific malformed 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:** 17 Apr 2023
- **Updated:** 3 Mar 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-h5hc-qpqf-p7r8

## What is CVE-2023-28959?

CVE-2023-28959 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Juniper Junos, published on 17 Apr 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An Improper Check or Handling of Exceptional Conditions vulnerability in packet processing of Juniper Networks Junos OS on QFX10002 allows an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker on the local broadcast domain sending a malformed packet to the device, causing all PFEs other than the inbound PFE to wedge and to eventually restart, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS) condition. Continued receipt and processing of this packet will create a sustained Denial of Service (DoS) condition. This issue can only be triggered by sending a specific malformed packet to the device. Transit traffic does not trigger this issue. An indication of this issue occurring can be seen through the following log messages: fpc0 expr_hostbound_packet_handler: Receive pe 73? fpc0 Cmerror Op Set: PE Chip: PE0[0]: PGQ:misc_intr: 0x00000020: Enqueue of a packet with out-of-range VOQ in 192K-VOQ mode (URI: /fpc/0/pfe/0/cm/0/PE_Chip/0/PECHIP_CMERROR_PGQ_MISC_INT_EVENTS_ENQ_192K_VIOL) The logs list below can also be observed when this issue occurs fpc0 Error: /fpc/0/pfe/0/cm/0/PE_Chip/0/PECHIP_CMERROR_PGQ_MISC_INT_EVENTS_ENQ_192K_VIOL (0x210107), scope: pfe, category: functional, severity: major, module: PE Chip, type: Description for PECHIP_CMERROR_PGQ_MISC_INT_EVENTS_ENQ_192K_VIOL fpc0 Performing action cmalarm for error /fpc/0/pfe/0/cm/0/PE_Chip/0/PECHIP_CMERROR_PGQ_MISC_INT_EVENTS_ENQ_192K_VIOL (0x210107) in module: PE Chip with scope: pfe category: functional level: major fpc0 Error: /fpc/0/pfe/0/cm/0/PE_Chip/0/PECHIP_CMERROR_CM_INT_REG_DCHK_PIPE (0x21011a), scope: pfe, category: functional, severity: fatal, module: PE Chip, type: Description for PECHIP_CMERROR_CM_INT_REG_DCHK_PIPE fpc0 Performing action cmalarm for error /fpc/0/pfe/0/cm/0/PE_Chip/0/PECHIP_CMERROR_CM_INT_REG_DCHK_PIPE (0x21011a) in module: PE Chip with scope: pfe category: functional level: fatal fpc0 Performing action disable-pfe for error /fpc/0/pfe/0/cm/0/PE_Chip/0/PECHIP_CMERROR_CM_INT_REG_DCHK_PIPE (0x21011a) in module: PE Chip with scope: pfe category: functional level: fatal This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS on QFX10002: All versions prior to 19.1R3-S10; 19.4 versions prior to 19.4R3-S11; 20.2 versions prior to 20.2R3-S7; 20.4 versions prior to 20.4R3-S6; 21.1 versions prior to 21.1R3-S4; 21.2 versions prior to 21.2R3-S4; 21.3 versions prior to 21.3R3-S3; 21.4 versions prior to 21.4R3-S2; 22.1 versions prior to 22.1R3-S1; 22.2 versions prior to 22.2R2-S1, 22.2R3; 22.3 versions prior to 22.3R1-S2, 22.3R2.

Weakness: CWE-703 (Improper Check or Handling of Exceptional Conditions)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-28959?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Juniper Junos.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-28959?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-28959 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-28959 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-28959 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-2023-28959 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-28959 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Juniper Junos, published on 17 Apr 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-2023-28959 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-2023-28959/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-28959/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-28959
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-28959
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-28959

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-28959/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.