CVE-2021-0258Junos OS: Kernel panic upon receipt of specific TCPv6 packet on management interface
- 5.9MediumCVSS base score
- 0.67%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 47% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
A vulnerability in the forwarding of transit TCPv6 packets received on the Ethernet management interface of Juniper Networks Junos OS allows an attacker to trigger a kernel panic, leading to a Denial of Service (DoS). Continued receipt and processing of these transit packets will create a sustained Denial of Service (DoS) condition. This issue only occurs when TCPv6 packets are routed through the management interface. Other transit traffic, and traffic destined to the management interface, are unaffected by this vulnerability. This issue was introduced as part of a TCP Parallelization feature added in Junos OS 17.2, and affects systems with concurrent network stack enabled. This feature is enabled by default, but can be disabled (see WORKAROUND section below). This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS: 17.2 versions prior to 17.2R3-S4; 17.3 versions prior to 17.3R3-S9; 17.4 versions prior to 17.4R2-S11, 17.4R3-S2; 18.1 versions prior to 18.1R3-S11; 18.2 versions prior to 18.2R3-S5; 18.3 versions prior to 18.3R2-S4, 18.3R3-S3; 18.4 versions prior to 18.4R2-S5, 18.4R3-S4; 19.1 versions prior to 19.1R2-S2, 19.1R3; 19.2 versions prior to 19.2R1-S5, 19.2R2; 19.3 versions prior to 19.3R2-S4, 19.3R3; 19.4 versions prior to 19.4R1-S3, 19.4R2. This issue does not affect Juniper Networks Junos OS versions prior to 17.2R1.
Timeline
ID reserved
By juniper
- 6 months later
· 6 months later
Published
- 3 years later
· 3 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| juniperCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | Medium5.9 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | Medium5.9 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.67% · top 47% of all CVEs (14 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 5.9.
Affected products
- unaffected 17.2 – < 17.2R1
- affected 17.3 – < 17.3R3-S9
- affected 17.4 – < 17.4R2-S11, 17.4R3-S2
- affected 18.1 – < 18.1R3-S11
- affected 18.2 – < 18.2R3-S5
- affected 18.3 – < 18.3R2-S4, 18.3R3-S3
- affected 18.4 – < 18.4R2-S5, 18.4R3-S4
- affected 19.1 – < 19.1R2-S2, 19.1R3
- affected 19.2 – < 19.2R1-S5, 19.2R2
- affected 19.3 – < 19.3R2-S4, 19.3R3
- affected 19.4 – < 19.4R1-S3, 19.4R2
What to do
Solution: The following software releases have been updated to resolve this specific issue: Junos OS 17.2R3-S4, 17.3R3-S9, 17.4R2-S11, 17.4R3-S2, 18.1R3-S11, 18.2R3-S5, 18.3R2-S4, 18.3R3-S3, 18.4R2-S5, 18.4R3-S4, 19.1R2-S2, 19.1R3, 19.2R1-S5, 19.2R2, 19.3R2-S4, 19.3R3, 19.4R1-S3, 19.4R2, 20.1R1, and all subsequent releases.
Workaround: Disable TCP Parallelization: set system kernel-smp-features disable-concurrent-network-stack
Exploitation: Juniper SIRT is not aware of any malicious exploitation of this vulnerability.
References
References1
- https://kb.juniper.net/JSA11149 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2021-2877 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2021-0258)Record last updated .