# CVE-2025-52981: Junos OS: SRX Series: Sequence of specific PIM packets causes a flowd crash

> An unauthenticated attacker can cause a denial of service on Juniper SRX firewalls by sending specific PIM packets that crash the flow processing daemon.

- **Severity:** High 8.7 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:L/AU:Y/R:A/RE:M`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 11 Jul 2025
- **Updated:** 15 Jul 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-j2f6-v4vj-2456

## What is CVE-2025-52981?

CVE-2025-52981 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Juniper Junos, published on 11 Jul 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions vulnerability in the flow processing daemon (flowd) of Juniper Networks Junos OS on 

SRX1600, SRX2300, SRX 4000 Series, and SRX5000 Series with SPC3

allows an unauthenticated, network-based attacker to cause a Denial-of-Service (DoS).

If a sequence of specific PIM packets is received, this will cause a flowd crash and restart.

This issue affects Junos OS:

  *  all versions before 21.2R3-S9,
  *  21.4 versions before 21.4R3-S11,
  *  22.2 versions before 22.2R3-S7,
  *  22.4 versions before 22.4R3-S6,
  *  23.2 versions before 23.2R2-S4,
  *  23.4 versions before 23.4R2-S4,
  *  24.2 versions before 24.2R2.

This is a similar, but different vulnerability than the issue reported as

CVE-2024-47503, published in JSA88133.

Weakness: CWE-754 (Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-52981?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Juniper Junos.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-52981?

No fix has been published for CVE-2025-52981 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2025-52981 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-52981 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-2025-52981 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-52981 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Juniper Junos, published on 11 Jul 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-52981 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-2025-52981/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-52981/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-52981
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-52981
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-52981

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-52981/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.