CVE-2023-36834 Denial of service in Junos OS
An adjacent attacker can cause a denial of service on Juniper SRX firewalls configured in L2 transparent mode by sending specific packets that loop processing engines.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2023-36834?
CVE-2023-36834 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Juniper Junos, published on 14 Jul 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
An Incomplete Internal State Distinction vulnerability in the packet forwarding engine (PFE) of Juniper Networks Junos OS on SRX 4600 and SRX 5000 Series allows an adjacent attacker to cause a Denial of Service (DoS).
If an SRX is configured in L2 transparent mode the receipt of a specific genuine packet can cause a single Packet Processing Engines (PPE) component of the PFE to run into a loop, which in turn will render the PPE unavailable. Each packet will cause one PPE to get into a loop, leading to a gradual performance degradation until all PPEs are unavailable and all traffic processing stops. To recover the affected FPC need to be restarted.
This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS on SRX 4600 and SRX 5000 Series: 20.1 version 20.1R1 and later versions; 20.2 versions prior to 20.2R3-S7; 20.3 version 20.3R1 and later versions; 20.4 versions prior to 20.4R3-S7; 21.1 versions prior to 21.1R3-S5; 21.2 versions prior to 21.2R3-S3; 21.3 versions prior to 21.3R3-S3; 21.4 versions prior to 21.4R3-S1; 22.1 versions prior to 22.1R3; 22.2 versions prior to 22.2R2; 22.3 versions prior to 22.3R1-S1, 22.3R2.
Weakness: CWE-372
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-36834?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Juniper Junos.
How do I fix CVE-2023-36834?
No fix has been published for CVE-2023-36834 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2023-36834 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-36834 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Juniper Junos
- CVE-2023-36845 Juniper Junos OS EX Series and SRX Series PHP External Variable Modification
- CVE-2020-1631 Juniper Junos OS Path Traversal
- CVE-2025-21590 Juniper Junos OS Improper Isolation or Compartmentalization
- CVE-2023-36851 Juniper Junos OS SRX Series Missing Authentication for Critical Function
- CVE-2023-36844 Juniper Junos OS EX Series PHP External Variable Modification
Sources
Also known as GHSA-6cxr-6qqw-c9xc.