Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-59962

Memory Safety in Juniper Junos ≤ 21.4

Published
09 October 2025
Modified
23 January 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v4 6.0
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:A/AC:L/AT:P/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:Y/R:A/V:C/RE:M/U:X
EPSS Score 0.0016 6th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-59962 is a medium-severity Access of Uninitialized Pointer (CWE-824) vulnerability in Juniper Junos. Its CVSS base score is 6.0 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Application or System Exploitation (T1499.004); ranked at the 6th 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 SI-2 (Flaw Remediation) and CM-7 (Least Functionality) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

An Access of Uninitialized Pointer vulnerability in the routing protocol daemon (rpd) of Juniper Networks Junos OS and Junos OS Evolved with BGP sharding configured allows an attacker triggering indirect next-hop updates, along with timing outside the attacker's control, to…

more

cause rpd to crash and restart, leading to a Denial of Service (DoS). With BGP sharding enabled, triggering route resolution of an indirect next-hop (e.g., an IGP route change over which a BGP route gets resolved), may cause rpd to crash and restart. An attacker causing continuous IGP route churn, resulting in repeated route re-resolution, will increase the likelihood of triggering this issue, leading to a potentially extended DoS condition. This issue affects: Junos OS: * all versions before 21.4R3-S6, * from 22.1 before 22.1R3-S6, * from 22.2 before 22.2R3-S3, * from 22.3 before 22.3R3-S3, * from 22.4 before 22.4R3, * from 23.2 before 23.2R2; Junos OS Evolved: * all versions before 22.3R3-S3-EVO, * from 22.4 before 22.4R3-EVO, * from 23.2 before 23.2R2-EVO. Versions before Junos OS 21.3R1 and Junos OS Evolved 21.3R1-EVO are unaffected by this issue.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1499.004 Application or System Exploitation Impact
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities that can cause an application or system to crash and deny availability to users.
Why these techniques?

Uninitialized pointer in rpd triggered by BGP/IGP route updates causes daemon crash, directly enabling application/system exploitation for DoS.

Confidence: MEDIUM · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-60004Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2025-60011Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2024-39564Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2026-33799Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2026-33780Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2024-21613Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2026-21909Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2024-21614Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2024-21585Same product: Juniper Junos
CVE-2025-21598Same product: Juniper Junos

Affected Assets

juniper
junos
21.4, 22.1, 22.2, 22.3, 22.4 · ≤ 21.4
juniper
junos os evolved
22.3, 22.4, 23.2 · ≤ 22.3

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-2 Flaw Remediation
  • CM-7 Least Functionality
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)
  • SI-4 System Monitoring
Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly requires applying the vendor patches that close the uninitialized-pointer flaw in rpd when BGP sharding and indirect next-hop resolution are active.

prevent

Least-functionality setting can disable BGP sharding (the prerequisite configuration) so the indirect-next-hop code path that triggers the crash is never exercised.

detect

Continuous monitoring of rpd process health and route-resolution events can identify repeated daemon restarts caused by the timing-dependent uninitialized-pointer dereference.

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 prevent uninitialized pointer bugs via coding standards, analysis, and reviews, but eliminating this single weakness only partially fulfills the broader control.

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.

detects

Security testing can detect uninitialized pointer usage before release.

prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates practices that reduce uninitialized pointer defects.

degrades

Application security requirements can specify pointer initialization rules.

degrades

Secure architecture principles discourage unsafe pointer handling.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly prohibit use of uninitialized pointers.

References