# CVE-2023-28981: Memory corruption in Junos OS

> An adjacent attacker can cause a denial of service by sending malformed IPv6 router advertisements, leading to memory corruption and a routing process crash.

- **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:** 5 Feb 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-pjch-863f-79m3

## What is CVE-2023-28981?

CVE-2023-28981 is a medium-severity memory corruption 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 Input Validation vulnerability in the kernel of Juniper Networks Junos OS and Junos OS Evolved allows an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to cause a Denial of Service (DoS). If the receipt of router advertisements is enabled on an interface and a specifically malformed RA packet is received, memory corruption will happen which leads to an rpd crash. This issue affects: Juniper Networks Junos OS 20.3 versions prior to 20.3R3-S5; 20.4 versions prior to 20.4R3-S3; 21.1 versions prior to 21.1R3-S4; 21.2 versions prior to 21.2R3; 21.3 versions prior to 21.3R3; 21.4 versions prior to 21.4R2; 22.1 versions prior to 22.1R2. Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved 20.3-EVO version 20.3R1-EVO and later versions; 20.4-EVO versions prior to 20.4R3-S6-EVO; 21.3-EVO versions prior to 21.3R3-EVO; 21.4-EVO versions prior to 21.4R2-EVO; 22.1-EVO versions prior to 22.1R2-EVO.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-28981?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Juniper Junos, Juniper Junos Os Evolved.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-28981?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-28981 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-28981 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-28981 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-2023-28981 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-28981 is a medium-severity memory corruption 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-2023-28981 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-2023-28981/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-28981/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-28981
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-28981
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-28981

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-28981/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.