Security Resilience

CVE-2023-36834

Juniper Junos 20.1 … 21.4

Published
14 July 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 6.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0030 21th percentile
Risk Priority 49 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-36834 is a medium-severity Incomplete Internal State Distinction (CWE-372) vulnerability in Juniper Junos. Its CVSS base score is 6.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique OS Credential Dumping (T1003); ranked at the 21th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

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…

more

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.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1003 OS Credential Dumping Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump credentials to obtain account login and credential material, normally in the form of a hash or a clear text password.
T1003.003 NTDS Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access or create a copy of the Active Directory domain database in order to steal credential information, as well as obtain other information about domain members such as devices, users, and access rights.
T1003.006 DCSync Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access credentials and other sensitive information by abusing a Windows Domain Controller's application programming interface (API)(Citation: Microsoft DRSR Dec 2017) (Citation: Microsoft GetNCCChanges) (Citati…
T1005 Data from Local System Collection
Adversaries may search local system sources, such as file systems, configuration files, local databases, virtual machine files, or process memory, to find files of interest and sensitive data prior to Exfiltration.
T1007 System Service Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may try to gather information about registered local system services.
T1010 Application Window Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may attempt to get a listing of open application windows.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-47503Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2024-39561Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2023-22408Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2024-30405Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2024-47504Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2024-30398Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2025-52981Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2024-47494Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2023-44188Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2026-21919Same product: Juniper Junos

Affected Assets

juniper
junos
20.1, 20.2, 20.3, 20.4, 21.1

Mitigating Controls

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.

ID.RA-01 partial match
blocks

Identifying recorded vulnerabilities can surface this class of state-management flaw during assessments.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC activities directly address proper state-machine design and testing that prevent incomplete state distinction.

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.

blocks

Secure development lifecycle practices can include state-machine validation and invariant checks that reduce incomplete internal state errors.

blocks

A.8.26 only requires that security requirements (including resilience against attacks such as SQL injection) be identified and specified during development or acquisition; it does not itself enforce, implement, or prevent the incomplete state distinction from arising or being exploitable.

blocks

A.8.27 mandates security-by-design principles (defense-in-depth, least privilege, fail securely, distrust external input, assume-breach, zero-trust verification) plus design reviews that can catch and block many incomplete-state assumptions before they reach code, but leaves a bounded remainder: state-machine logic errors that are not visible in architecture, do not violate any listed principle, and are introduced in detailed implementation rather than high-level design.

prevents

Secure coding standards can require defensive checks against invalid or ambiguous internal states.

finds

Security testing can detect state-machine flaws that manifest as incomplete internal state distinction.

References