CVE-2025-21597: Junos OS and Junos OS Evolved: When BGP rib-sharding and update-threading are configured and a peer flaps, an rpd core is observed

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.3 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2025-04-09 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-754

Description

An Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions vulnerability in routing protocol daemon (rpd) of Juniper Networks Junos OS and Junos OS Evolved allows an unauthenticated, logically adjacent BGP peer to cause Denial of Service (DoS). On all Junos OS and Junos OS Evolved platforms, when BGP rib-sharding and update-threading are configured, and a BGP peer flap is done with specific timing, rpd crashes and restarts. Continuous peer flapping at specific time intervals will result in a sustained Denial of Service (DoS) condition. This issue affects eBGP and iBGP, in both IPv4 and IPv6 implementations. This issue requires a remote attacker to have at least one established BGP session. The issue can occur with or without logical-systems enabled. This issue affects: Junos OS: * All versions before 20.4R3-S8, * 21.2 versions before 21.2R3-S6, * 21.3 versions before 21.3R3-S5, * 21.4 versions before 21.4R3-S4, * 22.1 versions before 22.1R3-S3, * 22.2 versions before 22.2R3-S1, * 22.3 versions before 22.3R3, * 22.4 versions before 22.4R3. Junos OS Evolved: * All versions before 21.2R3-S6-EVO, * 21.3-EVO versions before 21.3R3-S5-EVO, * 21.4-EVO versions before 21.4R3-S4-EVO, * 22.1-EVO versions before 22.1R3-S3-EVO, * 22.2-EVO versions before :22.2R3-S1-EVO, * 22.3-EVO versions before 22.3R3-EVO, * 22.4-EVO versions before 22.4R3-EVO.

Affected products

Juniper Junos OS: before 20.4; 20.4, 20.4-r1, 20.4-r1-s1, 20.4-r2, 20.4-r2-s1, 20.4-r2-s2 (+76) — fixed in 20.4
Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved: before 21.2; 21.2, 21.2-r1, 21.2-r1-s1, 21.2-r1-s2, 21.2-r2, 21.2-r2-s1 (+60) — fixed in 21.2

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Juniper Junos OS 20.4; Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved 21.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

https://kb.juniper.net/JSA96451

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