A Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime vulnerability the xinetd process, responsible for spawning SSH daemon (sshd) instances, of Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved allows an unauthenticated network-based attacker to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) by blocking SSH access for legitimate users. Continued receipt of these connections will create a sustained Denial of Service (DoS) condition. The issue is triggered when a high rate of concurrent SSH requests are received and terminated in a specific way, causing xinetd to crash, and leaving defunct sshd processes. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability blocks both SSH access as well as services which rely upon SSH, such as SFTP, and Netconf over SSH. Once the system is in this state, legitimate users will be unable to SSH to the device until service is manually restored. See WORKAROUND section below. Administrators can monitor an increase in defunct sshd processes by utilizing the CLI command: > show system processes | match sshd root 25219 30901 0 Jul16 ? 00:00:00 [sshd] <defunct> This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved: * All versions prior to 21.4R3-S7-EVO * 22.3-EVO versions prior to 22.3R2-S2-EVO, 22.3R3-S2-EVO; * 22.4-EVO versions prior to 22.4R3-EVO; * 23.2-EVO versions prior to 23.2R2-EVO. This issue does not affect Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved 22.1-EVO nor 22.2-EVO.
This vulnerability carries a HIGH severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.5, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction and does not require pre-existing privileges . The vulnerability impacts and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 1 product from juniper organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.
Reported in 2024, this vulnerability emerged during an era marked by increased sophistication in supply chain attacks, cloud infrastructure vulnerabilities, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) security challenges. Security practices during this period emphasized zero-trust architectures, container security, and API protection.
2024-07-10T23:15:13.670
2025-02-07T20:05:34.960
Analyzed
CVSSv3.1: 7.5 (HIGH)
| Type | Vendor | Product | Version/Range | Vulnerable? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | < 21.4 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 21.4 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 21.4 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 21.4 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 21.4 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 21.4 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 21.4 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 21.4 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 21.4 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 21.4 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 21.4 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 21.4 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 21.4 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 21.4 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 21.4 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 22.3 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 22.3 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 22.3 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 22.3 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 22.3 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 22.3 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 22.4 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 22.4 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 22.4 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 22.4 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 22.4 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 22.4 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 22.4 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 23.2 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 23.2 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 23.2 | Yes |
| Operating System | juniper | junos_os_evolved | 23.2 | Yes |
SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For juniper's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.