Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-28984

Memory Safety in Juniper Junos 20.2 … 22.4

Memory SafetyRace Condition
Published
17 April 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.3
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0021 11th percentile
Risk Priority 40 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-28984 is a medium-severity Race Condition (CWE-362) vulnerability in Juniper Junos. Its CVSS base score is 5.3 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203); ranked at the 11th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A06:2025 Insecure Design

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A Use After Free vulnerability in the Layer 2 Address Learning Manager (l2alm) of Juniper Networks Junos OS on QFX Series allows an adjacent attacker to cause the Packet Forwarding Engine to crash and restart, leading to a Denial of…

more

Service (DoS). The PFE may crash when a lot of MAC learning and aging happens, but due to a Race Condition (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization) that is outside the attackers direct control. This issue affects: Juniper Networks Junos OS versions prior to 19.4R3-S10 on QFX Series; 20.2 versions prior to 20.2R3-S7 on QFX Series; 20.3 versions prior to 20.3R3-S6 on QFX Series; 20.4 versions prior to 20.4R3-S5 on QFX Series; 21.1 versions prior to 21.1R3-S4 on QFX Series; 21.2 versions prior to 21.2R3-S3 on QFX Series; 21.3 versions prior to 21.3R3-S3 on QFX Series; 21.4 versions prior to 21.4R3 on QFX Series; 22.1 versions prior to 22.1R3 on QFX Series; 22.2 versions prior to 22.2R2 on QFX Series.

CWE(s)
CWE-362CWE-416

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
attack.mitre.org →
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-21908Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2026-21921Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2024-39528Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2024-30386Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2023-28980Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2025-52946Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2024-30378Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2023-22402Same vendor: Juniper
CVE-2023-36833Same vendor: Juniper
CVE-2025-55224Shared CWE-362, CWE-416

Affected Assets

juniper
junos
20.2, 20.3, 20.4, 21.1, 21.2

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 3 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V10.4.2
  • V10.4.5
  • V15.1.3
  • V15.4.1

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

AU-8 Time Stamps
addresses: CWE-362

Accurate timestamps from internal clocks enable detection of race conditions by providing reliable event ordering in audit logs.

PL-6 Security-related Activity Planning
addresses: CWE-362

Coordination of concurrent security activities reduces the probability that shared resources will be accessed simultaneously without proper synchronization.

SI-16 Memory Protection
addresses: CWE-416

Use-after-free exploits that achieve arbitrary code execution are blocked or significantly hardened by non-executable pages and ASLR.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly require proper synchronization primitives and concurrency testing that prevent race conditions.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability identification processes can discover use-after-free issues via scanning or analysis but do not prevent their introduction.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching removes known use-after-free instances after they have been introduced in released software.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing can detect race conditions, but does not prevent them at design or coding time.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure SDLC mandates concurrency controls and synchronization primitives that directly prevent race conditions.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can specify thread-safety and locking rules, but do not prescribe implementation details.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture principles require proper synchronization and resource isolation, addressing the root cause of CWE-362.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe concurrent access patterns and mandate atomic operations or locks.

A.8.32 Change management partial match
prevents

Change-management processes help ensure memory-safety fixes are deployed consistently.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
  • V-248592 OL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-230279 RHEL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416
RHEL 9 (1 rule)
  • V-257794 RHEL 9 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416

References