CVE-2021-0255
Junos OS: ethtraceroute Local Privilege Escalation vulnerability in SUID binaries
A local privilege escalation vulnerability in ethtraceroute of Juniper Networks Junos OS may allow a locally authenticated user with shell access to escalate privileges and write to the local filesystem as root. ethtraceroute is shipped with setuid permissions enabled and is owned by the root user, allowing local users to run ethtraceroute with root privileges. This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS: 15.1X49 versions prior to 15.1X49-D240; 17.3 versions prior to 17.3R3-S11, 17.4 versions prior to 17.4R3-S4; 18.1 versions prior to 18.1R3-S12; 18.2 versions prior to 18.2R3-S7; 18.3 versions prior to 18.3R3-S4; 18.4 versions prior to 18.4R2-S7; 19.1 versions prior to 19.1R1-S6, 19.1R2-S2, 19.1R3-S4; 19.3 versions prior to 19.3R3-S2; 19.4 versions prior to 19.4R3-S1; 20.1 versions prior to 20.1R2, 20.1R3; 20.2 versions prior to 20.2R2-S1, 20.2R3; 20.3 versions prior to 20.3R1-S1.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- Low
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
Junos OS: ethtraceroute Local Privilege Escalation vulnerability in SUID binaries
A local privilege escalation vulnerability in ethtraceroute of Juniper Networks Junos OS may allow a locally authenticated user with shell access to escalate privileges and write to the local filesystem as root. ethtraceroute is shipped with setuid permissions enabled and is owned by the root user, allowing local users to run ethtraceroute with root privileges. This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS: 15.1X49 versions prior to 15.1X49-D240; 17.3 versions prior to 17.3R3-S11, 17.4 versions prior to 17.4R3-S4; 18.1 versions prior to 18.1R3-S12; 18.2 versions prior to 18.2R3-S7; 18.3 versions prior to 18.3R3-S4; 18.4 versions prior to 18.4R2-S7; 19.1 versions prior to 19.1R1-S6, 19.1R2-S2, 19.1R3-S4; 19.3 versions prior to 19.3R3-S2; 19.4 versions prior to 19.4R3-S1; 20.1 versions prior to 20.1R2, 20.1R3; 20.2 versions prior to 20.2R2-S1, 20.2R3; 20.3 versions prior to 20.3R1-S1.
- Record
CVE-2021-0255- CVSS 3.1
- 5.5 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-250
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2021-2874
A local privilege escalation vulnerability in ethtraceroute of Juniper Networks Junos OS may allow a locally authenticated user with shell access to escalate privileges and write to the local filesystem as root. ethtraceroute is shipped with setuid permissions enabled and is owned by the root user, allowing local users to run ethtraceroute with root privileges. This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS: 15.1X49 versions prior to 15.1X49-D240; 17.3 versions prior to 17.3R3-S11, 17.4 versions prior to 17.4R3-S4; 18.1 versions prior to 18.1R3-S12; 18.2 versions prior to 18.2R3-S7; 18.3 versions prior to 18.3R3-S4; 18.4 versions prior to 18.4R2-S7; 19.1 versions prior to 19.1R1-S6, 19.1R2-S2, 19.1R3-S4; 19.3 versions prior to 19.3R3-S2; 19.4 versions prior to 19.4R3-S1; 20.1 versions prior to 20.1R2, 20.1R3; 20.2 versions prior to 20.2R2-S1, 20.2R3; 20.3 versions prior to 20.3R1-S1.
- Record
EUVD-2021-2874- CVSS 3.1
- 5.5 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-jmwh-vhgh-wqr7 No score
A local privilege escalation vulnerability in ethtraceroute of Juniper Networks Junos OS may...
A local privilege escalation vulnerability in ethtraceroute of Juniper Networks Junos OS may allow a locally authenticated user with shell access to escalate privileges and write to the local filesystem as root. ethtraceroute is shipped with setuid permissions enabled and is owned by the root user, allowing local users to run ethtraceroute with root privileges. This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS: 15.1X49 versions prior to 15.1X49-D240; 17.3 versions prior to 17.3R3-S11, 17.4 versions prior to 17.4R3-S4; 18.1 versions prior to 18.1R3-S12; 18.2 versions prior to 18.2R3-S7; 18.3 versions prior to 18.3R3-S4; 18.4 versions prior to 18.4R2-S7; 19.1 versions prior to 19.1R1-S6, 19.1R2-S2, 19.1R3-S4; 19.3 versions prior to 19.3R3-S2; 19.4 versions prior to 19.4R3-S1; 20.1 versions prior to 20.1R2, 20.1R3; 20.2 versions prior to 20.2R2-S1, 20.2R3; 20.3 versions prior to 20.3R1-S1.
- Record
GHSA-jmwh-vhgh-wqr7- Weakness
- CWE-269
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
A local privilege escalation vulnerability in ethtraceroute of Juniper Networks Junos OS may allow a locally authenticated user with shell access to escalate privileges and write to the local filesystem as root. ethtraceroute is shipped with setuid permissions enabled and is owned by the root user, allowing local users to run ethtraceroute with root privileges. This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS: 15.1X49 versions prior to 15.1X49-D240; 17.3 versions prior to 17.3R3-S11, 17.4 versions prior to 17.4R3-S4; 18.1 versions prior to 18.1R3-S12; 18.2 versions prior to 18.2R3-S7; 18.3 versions prior to 18.3R3-S4; 18.4 versions prior to 18.4R2-S7; 19.1 versions prior to 19.1R1-S6, 19.1R2-S2, 19.1R3-S4; 19.3 versions prior to 19.3R3-S2; 19.4 versions prior to 19.4R3-S1; 20.1 versions prior to 20.1R2, 20.1R3; 20.2 versions prior to 20.2R2-S1, 20.2R3; 20.3 versions prior to 20.3R1-S1.
- Record
CVE-2021-0255- CVSS 3.1
- 5.5 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N - CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 7.2 High
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C - Weakness
- CWE-250, CWE-269
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases, published | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2021-0255 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 5.5) in Juniper Junos, published April 22, 2021. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.21%, the 10th percentile. No source names a fixed version.