CVE-2023-22405

Adjacent resource exhaustion through lost MAC limiting

Published Jan 12, 2023 · Updated Apr 7, 2025

State inconsistency in the Juniper Networks Junos OS PFE on QFX5k and EX46xx switches allows attackers to exhaust device resources. After a PFE restart or device reboot, the engine fails to restore MAC-limit enforcement on an aggregated Ethernet interface even when its table and logs report the limit. Exposure requires adjacent access, service-provider-style switching, and MAC limiting on that interface; excess MAC learning can then consume resources and interrupt service.

CVSS severity6.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.31%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
Coverage for this vulnerability

See if you're affected

Explore vulnerability checks for your environment with Hinoki.

Book a demo

Summary

What happened

State inconsistency in the Juniper Networks Junos OS PFE on QFX5k and EX46xx switches allows attackers to exhaust device resources. After a PFE restart or device reboot, the engine fails to restore MAC-limit enforcement on an aggregated Ethernet interface even when its table and logs report the limit. Exposure requires adjacent access, service-provider-style switching, and MAC limiting on that interface; excess MAC learning can then consume resources and interrupt service.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-22405
Published
Jan 12, 2023
Updated
Apr 7, 2025
Vendor
Juniper Networks
Product
Junos OS
Classifications
CWE-1250, T1499
Attack vector
adjacent
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jan 12, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Apr 7, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=20.3 <20.3R3-S5
  2. Affected versionversion=20.4 <20.4R3-S4
  3. Affected versionversion=21.1 <21.1R3-S3
  4. Affected versionversion=21.2 <21.2R3-S1
  5. Affected versionversion=21.3 <21.3R3
  6. Affected versionversion=21.4 <21.4R3
  7. Affected versionversion=22.1 <22.1R2
  8. Affected versionversion=unspecified <20.2R3-S5

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectoradjacent
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Juniper Networks · Junos OSversion=20.3 <20.3R3-S5; version=20.4 <20.4R3-S4; version=21.1 <21.1R3-S3; version=21.2 <21.2R3-S1; version=21.3 <21.3R3; version=21.4 <21.4R3; version=22.1 <22.1R2; version=unspecified <20.2R3-S5

Published CVSS scores

6.5Juniper Networks, Inc.CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectoradjacent
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-1250Improper Preservation of Consistency Between Independent Representations of Shared State
T1499Endpoint Denial of Service

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

See the directory against your own environment.

Your stack

Check the software in your environment

Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.

Book a demo