Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-39518

Memory Safety in Juniper Junos 21.2 … 23.2

Memory Safety
Published
10 July 2024
Modified
03 March 2025
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v4 8.7
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:L/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
EPSS Score 0.0042 35th percentile
Risk Priority 45 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-39518 is a high-severity Heap-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-122) vulnerability in Juniper Junos. Its CVSS base score is 8.7 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 35th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A Heap-based Buffer Overflow vulnerability in the telemetry sensor process (sensord) of Juniper Networks Junos OS on MX240, MX480, MX960 platforms using MPC10E causes a steady increase in memory utilization, ultimately leading to a Denial of Service (DoS). When the…

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device is subscribed to a specific subscription on Junos Telemetry Interface, a slow memory leak occurs and eventually all resources are consumed and the device becomes unresponsive. A manual reboot of the Line Card will be required to restore the device to its normal functioning. This issue is only seen when telemetry subscription is active. The Heap memory utilization can be monitored using the following command: > show system processes extensive The following command can be used to monitor the memory utilization of the specific sensor > show system info | match sensord PID NAME MEMORY PEAK MEMORY %CPU THREAD-COUNT CORE-AFFINITY UPTIME 1986 sensord 877.57MB 877.57MB 2 4 0,2-15 7-21:41:32 This issue affects Junos OS: * from 21.2R3-S5 before 21.2R3-S7, * from 21.4R3-S4 before 21.4R3-S6, * from 22.2R3 before 22.2R3-S4, * from 22.3R2 before 22.3R3-S2, * from 22.4R1 before 22.4R3, * from 23.2R1 before 23.2R2.

CWE(s)
CWE-122CWE-787

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

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 →
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
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 →
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.
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-2024-21594Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2024-21596Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2024-21591Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2023-44197Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2023-44178Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2023-44177Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2023-44176Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2023-22404Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2023-22415Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2023-22411Same product: Juniper Junos

Affected Assets

juniper
junos
21.2, 21.4, 22.2, 22.3, 22.4

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.4.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation (including fuzzing and memory-error detectors) can discover heap overflows after they have been coded.

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

Input validation enforces bounds checking on data written to heap buffers, directly stopping the overflow condition from being introduced.

SA-15 Development Process, Standards, and Tools partial match

Requiring documented secure-development standards and tools can mandate bounds-checked coding practices that avoid the weakness.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Security engineering principles require use of memory-safe constructs and bounds-checked allocation routines that avoid introducing heap overflows.

SI-16 Memory Protection partial match

Memory-protection mechanisms limit the ability of a heap overflow to execute attacker-controlled code or corrupt adjacent structures.

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 full match
prevents

Secure-development practices directly require bounds checking and safe memory handling that prevent heap overflows.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover heap-overflow flaws but does not prevent their introduction in code.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Timely patching removes known heap-overflow instances after they exist.

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 in development and acceptance can detect heap overflows before release.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development lifecycle mandates practices that reduce the likelihood of introducing heap overflows.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can specify bounds-checking and safe memory APIs that mitigate heap overflows.

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

Secure architecture and engineering principles include memory-safety and input-validation controls that address heap overflows.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards directly prescribe techniques (safe functions, bounds checks) that prevent heap-based buffer overflows.

A.8.32 Change management partial match
prevents

Change management can enforce review gates that catch unsafe memory operations before deployment.

References