CVE-2023-28974

Subscriber-session disruption via malformed ICMP handling

Published Apr 17, 2023 · Updated Feb 6, 2025

Denial of service in Juniper Networks Junos OS on MX Series allows remote attackers to crash bbe-smgd with malformed ICMP packets. The bbe-smgd process mishandles a specifically malformed ICMP packet addressed to the device and terminates instead of rejecting it safely. Reachability requires a Broadband Edge subscriber position; repeated packets sustain the outage and disrupt subscriber sessions that are connecting, updating, or terminating.

CVSS severity7.4
High
EPSS probability0.30%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Denial of service in Juniper Networks Junos OS on MX Series allows remote attackers to crash bbe-smgd with malformed ICMP packets. The bbe-smgd process mishandles a specifically malformed ICMP packet addressed to the device and terminates instead of rejecting it safely. Reachability requires a Broadband Edge subscriber position; repeated packets sustain the outage and disrupt subscriber sessions that are connecting, updating, or terminating.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-28974
Published
Apr 17, 2023
Updated
Feb 6, 2025
Vendor
Juniper Networks
Product
Junos OS
Classifications
CWE-754, T1499.004
Attack vector
adjacent
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Apr 17, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Feb 6, 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=20.2 <20.2R3-S7
  2. Affected versionversion=20.3 <20.3R3-S6
  3. Affected versionversion=20.4 <20.4R3-S6
  4. Affected versionversion=21.1 <21.1R3-S4
  5. Affected versionversion=21.2 <21.2R3-S4
  6. Affected versionversion=21.3 <21.3R3-S3
  7. Affected versionversion=21.4 <21.4R3-S2
  8. Affected versionversion=22.1 <22.1R2-S2, 22.1R3
  9. Affected versionversion=22.2 <22.2R2
  10. Affected versionversion=22.3 <22.3R1-S2, 22.3R2
  11. Affected versionversion=unspecified <19.4R3-S11

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectoradjacent
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Juniper Networks · Junos OSversion=20.2 <20.2R3-S7; version=20.3 <20.3R3-S6; version=20.4 <20.4R3-S6; version=21.1 <21.1R3-S4; version=21.2 <21.2R3-S4; version=21.3 <21.3R3-S3; version=21.4 <21.4R3-S2; version=22.1 <22.1R2-S2, 22.1R3; version=22.2 <22.2R2; version=22.3 <22.3R1-S2, 22.3R2; version=unspecified <19.4R3-S11

Published CVSS scores

7.4Juniper Networks, Inc.CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
6.5NIST NVDCVSS: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.

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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-754Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions
T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

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

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Your stack

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