Vulnerability Database

346,508

Total vulnerabilities in the database

CVE-2024-21603 — juniper / junos

Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions

An Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions vulnerability in the kernel of Juniper Network Junos OS on MX Series allows a network based attacker with low privileges to cause a denial of service.

If a scaled configuration for Source class usage (SCU) / destination class usage (DCU) (more than 10 route classes) is present and the SCU/DCU statistics are gathered by executing specific SNMP requests or CLI commands, a 'vmcore' for the RE kernel will be seen which leads to a device restart. Continued exploitation of this issue will lead to a sustained DoS.

This issue only affects MX Series devices with MPC10, MPC11 or LC9600, and MX304. No other MX Series devices are affected.

This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS:

  • All versions earlier than 20.4R3-S9;
  • 21.2 versions earlier than 21.2R3-S6;
  • 21.3 versions earlier than 21.3R3-S5;
  • 21.4 versions earlier than 21.4R3;
  • 22.1 versions earlier than 22.1R3;
  • 22.2 versions earlier than 22.2R2;
  • 22.3 versions earlier than 22.3R2.
  • Published: Jan 12, 2024
  • Updated: Nov 16, 2025
  • CVE: CVE-2024-21603
  • Severity: Medium
  • Exploit:

CVSS v3:

  • Severity: Medium
  • Score: 6.5
  • AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CWEs:

Software From Fixed in
juniper / junos 20.4-r1 20.4-r1.x
juniper / junos 20.4-r1-s1 20.4-r1-s1.x
juniper / junos 20.4-r2 20.4-r2.x
juniper / junos 20.4-r2-s1 20.4-r2-s1.x
juniper / junos 20.4-r3 20.4-r3.x
juniper / junos 20.4-r3-s1 20.4-r3-s1.x
juniper / junos 20.4-r2-s2 20.4-r2-s2.x
juniper / junos 20.4 20.4.x
juniper / junos 20.4-r3-s2 20.4-r3-s2.x
juniper / junos 20.4-r3-s3 20.4-r3-s3.x
juniper / junos 20.4-r3-s4 20.4-r3-s4.x
juniper / junos 20.4-r3-s5 20.4-r3-s5.x
juniper / junos 20.4-r3-s6 20.4-r3-s6.x
juniper / junos 20.4-r3-s7 20.4-r3-s7.x
juniper / junos 20.4-r3-s8 20.4-r3-s8.x
juniper / junos 21.2-r1 21.2-r1.x
juniper / junos 21.2-r1-s1 21.2-r1-s1.x
juniper / junos 21.2-r2 21.2-r2.x
juniper / junos 21.2 21.2.x
juniper / junos 21.2-r1-s2 21.2-r1-s2.x
juniper / junos 21.2-r2-s1 21.2-r2-s1.x
juniper / junos 21.2-r2-s2 21.2-r2-s2.x
juniper / junos 21.2-r3 21.2-r3.x
juniper / junos 21.2-r3-s2 21.2-r3-s2.x
juniper / junos 21.2-r3-s1 21.2-r3-s1.x
juniper / junos 21.2-r3-s3 21.2-r3-s3.x
juniper / junos 21.2-r3-s4 21.2-r3-s4.x
juniper / junos 21.2-r3-s5 21.2-r3-s5.x
juniper / junos 21.3-r1 21.3-r1.x
juniper / junos 21.3-r2 21.3-r2.x
juniper / junos 21.3-r1-s1 21.3-r1-s1.x
juniper / junos 21.3-r1-s2 21.3-r1-s2.x
juniper / junos 21.3-r2-s1 21.3-r2-s1.x
juniper / junos 21.3-r2-s2 21.3-r2-s2.x
juniper / junos 21.3-r3 21.3-r3.x
juniper / junos 21.3-r3-s1 21.3-r3-s1.x
juniper / junos 21.3 21.3.x
juniper / junos 21.3-r3-s2 21.3-r3-s2.x
juniper / junos 21.3-r3-s3 21.3-r3-s3.x
juniper / junos 21.3-r3-s4 21.3-r3-s4.x
juniper / junos 21.4-r1-s1 21.4-r1-s1.x
juniper / junos 21.4-r1 21.4-r1.x
juniper / junos 21.4-r1-s2 21.4-r1-s2.x
juniper / junos 21.4-r2 21.4-r2.x
juniper / junos 21.4-r2-s1 21.4-r2-s1.x
juniper / junos 21.4 21.4.x
juniper / junos 21.4-r2-s2 21.4-r2-s2.x
juniper / junos 22.1-r1 22.1-r1.x
juniper / junos 22.1-r1-s1 22.1-r1-s1.x
juniper / junos 22.1-r2 22.1-r2.x
juniper / junos 22.1-r1-s2 22.1-r1-s2.x
juniper / junos 22.1-r2-s2 22.1-r2-s2.x
juniper / junos 22.1-r2-s1 22.1-r2-s1.x
juniper / junos 22.1 22.1.x
juniper / junos 22.2-r1 22.2-r1.x
juniper / junos 22.2-r1-s1 22.2-r1-s1.x
juniper / junos 22.2-r1-s2 22.2-r1-s2.x
juniper / junos 22.2 22.2.x
juniper / junos 22.3-r1 22.3-r1.x
juniper / junos 22.3-r1-s1 22.3-r1-s1.x
juniper / junos 22.3-r1-s2 22.3-r1-s2.x
juniper / junos 22.3 22.3.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.