CVE-2021-31368

CVE-2021-31368 is a high-severity vulnerability in Juniper Junos with a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.5. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-400.

Key facts

Description

An Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in the kernel of Juniper Networks JUNOS OS allows an unauthenticated network based attacker to cause 100% CPU load and the device to become unresponsive by sending a flood of traffic to the out-of-band management ethernet port. Continued receipted of a flood will create a sustained Denial of Service (DoS) condition. Once the flood subsides the system will recover by itself. An indication that the system is affected by this issue would be that kernel and netisr process are shown to be using a lot of CPU cycles like in the following example output: user@host> show system processes extensive ... PID USERNAME PRI NICE SIZE RES STATE C TIME WCPU COMMAND 16 root -72 - 0K 304K WAIT 1 839:40 88.96% intr{swi1: netisr 0} 0 root 97 - 0K 160K RUN 1 732:43 87.99% kernel{bcm560xgmac0 que} This issue affects Juniper Networks JUNOS OS on EX2300 Series, EX3400 Series, and ACX710: All versions prior to 18.1R3-S13; 18.2 versions prior to 18.2R3-S8; 18.3 versions prior to 18.3R3-S5; 18.4 versions prior to 18.4R2-S8, 18.4R3-S9; 19.1 versions prior to 19.1R3-S5; 19.2 versions prior to 19.2R1-S7, 19.2R3-S3; 19.3 versions prior to 19.3R2-S6, 19.3R3-S2; 19.4 versions prior to 19.4R1-S4, 19.4R3-S3; 20.1 versions prior to 20.1R2-S2, 20.1R3; 20.2 versions prior to 20.2R3; 20.3 versions prior to 20.3R2-S1, 20.3R3; 20.4 versions prior to 20.4R2.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-31368?
An Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in the kernel of Juniper Networks JUNOS OS allows an unauthenticated network based attacker to cause 100% CPU load and the device to become unresponsive by sending a flood of traffic to the out-of-band management ethernet port. Continued receipted of a flood will create a sustained Denial of Service (DoS) condition. Once the flood subsides the system will recover by itself. An indication that the system is affected by this issue would be that kernel and netisr process are shown to be using a lot of CPU cycles like in the following example output: user@host> show system processes extensive ... PID USERNAME PRI NICE SIZE RES STATE C TIME WCPU COMMAND 16 root -72 - 0K 304K WAIT 1 839:40 88.96% intr{swi1: netisr 0} 0 root 97 - 0K 160K RUN 1 732:43 87.99% kernel{bcm560xgmac0 que} This issue affects Juniper Networks JUNOS OS on EX2300 Series, EX3400 Series, and ACX710: All versions prior to 18.1R3-S13; 18.2 versions prior to 18.2R3-S8; 18.3 versions prior to 18.3R3-S5; 18.4 versions prior to 18.4R2-S8, 18.4R3-S9; 19.1 versions prior to 19.1R3-S5; 19.2 versions prior to 19.2R1-S7, 19.2R3-S3; 19.3 versions prior to 19.3R2-S6, 19.3R3-S2; 19.4 versions prior to 19.4R1-S4, 19.4R3-S3; 20.1 versions prior to 20.1R2-S2, 20.1R3; 20.2 versions prior to 20.2R3; 20.3 versions prior to 20.3R2-S1, 20.3R3; 20.4 versions prior to 20.4R2.
How severe is CVE-2021-31368?
CVE-2021-31368 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.5, rated high severity. It is exploitable over network with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.
Is CVE-2021-31368 being actively exploited?
It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 1% (60th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2021-31368?
CVE-2021-31368 primarily affects Juniper Junos. In total, 165 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.
How do I fix CVE-2021-31368?
Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround. Given its high severity, prioritise patching exposed systems.
When was CVE-2021-31368 published?
CVE-2021-31368 was published on 2021-10-19 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (165)

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