# CVE-2023-44184: Junos OS and Junos OS Evolved: High CPU load due to specific NETCONF command

> Authenticated low-privileged attackers can cause control plane CPU exhaustion via specific NETCONF commands, requiring upgrades to Junos OS.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 12 Oct 2023
- **Updated:** 17 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-c9pj-4j3g-856x

## What is CVE-2023-44184?

CVE-2023-44184 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Juniper Junos, published on 12 Oct 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer vulnerability in the management daemon (mgd) process of Juniper Networks Junos OS and Junos OS Evolved allows a network-based authenticated low-privileged attacker, by executing a specific command via NETCONF, to cause a CPU Denial of Service to the device's control plane.

This issue affects:

Juniper Networks Junos OS

  *  All versions prior to 20.4R3-S7;
  *  21.2 versions prior to 21.2R3-S5;
  *  21.3 versions prior to 21.3R3-S5;
  *  21.4 versions prior to 21.4R3-S4;
  *  22.1 versions prior to 22.1R3-S2;
  *  22.2 versions prior to 22.2R3;
  *  22.3 versions prior to 22.3R2-S1, 22.3R3;
  *  22.4 versions prior to 22.4R1-S2, 22.4R2.

Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved

  *  All versions prior to 21.4R3-S4-EVO;
  *  22.1 versions prior to 22.1R3-S2-EVO;
  *  22.2 versions prior to 22.2R3-EVO;
  *  22.3 versions prior to 22.3R3-EVO;
  *  22.4 versions prior to 22.4R2-EVO.

An indicator of compromise can be seen by first determining if the NETCONF client is logged in and fails to log out after a reasonable period of time and secondly reviewing the WCPU percentage for the mgd process by running the following command:

mgd process example:

user@device-re#> show system processes extensive | match "mgd|PID" | except last
PID USERNAME PRI NICE SIZE RES STATE C TIME WCPU COMMAND
92476 root 100 0 500M 89024K CPU3 3 57.5H 89.60% mgd <<<<<<<<<<< review the high cpu percentage.
Example to check for NETCONF activity:

While there is no specific command that shows a specific session in use for NETCONF, you can review logs for UI_LOG_EVENT with "client-mode 'netconf'"

For example:

mgd[38121]: UI_LOGIN_EVENT: User 'root' login, class 'super-user' [38121], ssh-connection '10.1.1.1 201 55480 10.1.1.2 22', client-mode 'netconf'

Weakness: CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-44184?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Juniper Junos, Juniper Junos Os Evolved.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-44184?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-44184 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-44184 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-44184 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-2023-44184 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-44184 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Juniper Junos, published on 12 Oct 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-44184 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-2023-44184/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-44184/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-44184
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-44184
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-44184

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-44184/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.