CVE-2024-21609

CVE-2024-21609 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Juniper Junos with a CVSS 3.x base score of 6.5. 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-401.

Key facts

Description

A Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime vulnerability in the IKE daemon (iked) of Juniper Networks Junos OS on MX Series with SPC3, and SRX Series allows an administratively adjacent attacker which is able to successfully establish IPsec tunnels to cause a Denial of Service (DoS). If specific values for the IPsec parameters local-ip, remote-ip, remote ike-id, and traffic selectors are sent from the peer, a memory leak occurs during every IPsec SA rekey which is carried out with a specific message sequence. This will eventually result in an iked process crash and restart. The iked process memory consumption can be checked using the below command:   user@host> show system processes extensive | grep iked           PID USERNAME   PRI NICE   SIZE   RES   STATE   C TIME WCPU COMMAND           56903 root       31   0     4016M 2543M CPU0   0 2:10 10.50% iked This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS: * All versions earlier than 20.4R3-S9; * 21.2 versions earlier than 21.2R3-S7; * 21.3 versions earlier than 21.3R3-S5; * 21.4 versions earlier than 21.4R3-S4; * 22.1 versions earlier than 22.1R3-S3; * 22.2 versions earlier than 22.2R3-S2; * 22.3 versions earlier than 22.3R3; * 22.4 versions earlier than 22.4R3; * 23.2 versions earlier than 23.2R1-S2, 23.2R2.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2024-21609?
A Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime vulnerability in the IKE daemon (iked) of Juniper Networks Junos OS on MX Series with SPC3, and SRX Series allows an administratively adjacent attacker which is able to successfully establish IPsec tunnels to cause a Denial of Service (DoS). If specific values for the IPsec parameters local-ip, remote-ip, remote ike-id, and traffic selectors are sent from the peer, a memory leak occurs during every IPsec SA rekey which is carried out with a specific message sequence. This will eventually result in an iked process crash and restart. The iked process memory consumption can be checked using the below command:   user@host> show system processes extensive | grep iked           PID USERNAME   PRI NICE   SIZE   RES   STATE   C TIME WCPU COMMAND           56903 root       31   0     4016M 2543M CPU0   0 2:10 10.50% iked This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS: * All versions earlier than 20.4R3-S9; * 21.2 versions earlier than 21.2R3-S7; * 21.3 versions earlier than 21.3R3-S5; * 21.4 versions earlier than 21.4R3-S4; * 22.1 versions earlier than 22.1R3-S3; * 22.2 versions earlier than 22.2R3-S2; * 22.3 versions earlier than 22.3R3; * 22.4 versions earlier than 22.4R3; * 23.2 versions earlier than 23.2R1-S2, 23.2R2.
How severe is CVE-2024-21609?
CVE-2024-21609 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 6.5, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over an adjacent network with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.
Is CVE-2024-21609 being actively exploited?
It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 0% (21st percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2024-21609?
CVE-2024-21609 primarily affects Juniper Junos. In total, 89 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.
How do I fix CVE-2024-21609?
Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.
Does CVE-2024-21609 have an EU (EUVD) identifier?
Yes. CVE-2024-21609 is tracked in the ENISA EU Vulnerability Database (EUVD) as EUVD-2024-19257.
When was CVE-2024-21609 published?
CVE-2024-21609 was published on 2024-04-12 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (89)

More vulnerabilities in Juniper Junos

All CVEs affecting Juniper Junos →

Other CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime) vulnerabilities

Browse all CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime) vulnerabilities →