Vulnerability Database

346,508

Total vulnerabilities in the database

CVE-2020-1646 — juniper / junos

Improper Handling of Invalid Use of Special Elements

On Juniper Networks Junos OS and Junos OS Evolved devices, processing a specific UPDATE for an EBGP peer can lead to a routing process daemon (RPD) crash and restart. This issue occurs only when the device is receiving and processing the BGP UPDATE for an EBGP peer. This issue does not occur when the device is receiving and processing the BGP UPDATE for an IBGP peer. However, the offending BGP UPDATE can originally come from an EBGP peer, propagates through the network via IBGP peers without causing crash, then it causes RPD crash when it is processed for a BGP UPDATE towards an EBGP peer. Repeated receipt and processing of the same specific BGP UPDATE can result in an extended Denial of Service (DoS) condition. This issue affects: Juniper Networks Junos OS: 17.3R3-S6, 17.4R2-S7, and 18.1R3-S7. Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved 19.2R2-EVO and later versions, prior to 19.3R1-EVO. Other Junos OS releases are not affected.

  • Published: Jul 17, 2020
  • Updated: Nov 16, 2025
  • CVE: CVE-2020-1646
  • Severity: High
  • Exploit:

CVSS v3:

  • Severity: High
  • Score: 7.5
  • AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS v2:

  • Severity: Low
  • Score: 4.3
  • AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

CWEs:

Software From Fixed in
juniper / junos 17.3-r3-s6 17.3-r3-s6.x
juniper / junos 17.4-r2-s7 17.4-r2-s7.x
juniper / junos 18.1-r3-s7 18.1-r3-s7.x
juniper / junos_os_evolved 19.2-r2 19.2-r2.x

Frequently Asked Questions

A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.

CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.

A vulnerability is the underlying weakness. An exploit is the method or code used to take advantage of it. A zero-day is a vulnerability that is unknown to the vendor or has no publicly available fix when attackers begin using it. In practice, risk increases sharply when exploitation becomes reliable or widespread.

Recurring findings usually come from incomplete Asset Discovery, inconsistent patch management, inherited images, and configuration drift. In modern environments, you also need to watch the software supply chain: dependencies, containers, build pipelines, and third-party services can reintroduce the same weakness even after you patch a single host. Unknown or unmanaged assets (often called Shadow IT) are a common reason the same issues resurface.

Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.

SynScan combines attack surface monitoring and continuous security auditing to keep your inventory current, flag high-impact vulnerabilities early, and help you turn raw findings into a practical remediation plan.