CVE-2023-44191 Junos OS: QFX5000 Series and EX4000 Series: Denial of Service (DoS) on a large scale VLAN due to PFE hogging
An unauthenticated attacker can cause a denial of service on Juniper QFX5000 and EX4000 switches by sending specific DHCP packets when many VLANs are configured.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2023-44191?
CVE-2023-44191 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Juniper Junos, published on 12 Oct 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
An Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling vulnerability in Juniper Networks Junos OS allows an unauthenticated, network-based attacker to cause Denial of Service (DoS).
On all Junos OS QFX5000 Series and EX4000 Series platforms, when a high number of VLANs are configured, a specific DHCP packet will cause PFE hogging which will lead to dropping of socket connections.
This issue affects:
Juniper Networks Junos OS on QFX5000 Series and EX4000 Series
* 21.1 versions prior to 21.1R3-S5; * 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-S3; * 22.2 versions prior to 22.2R3-S1; * 22.3 versions prior to 22.3R2-S2, 22.3R3; * 22.4 versions prior to 22.4R2.
This issue does not affect Juniper Networks Junos OS versions prior to 21.1R1
Weakness: CWE-770
Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-44191?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Juniper Junos.
How do I fix CVE-2023-44191?
No fix has been published for CVE-2023-44191 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-2023-44191 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-44191 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-gg84-68cr-5wgm.