CVE-2024-21599
Junos OS: MX Series: MPC3E memory leak with PTP configuration
A Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime vulnerability in the Packet Forwarding Engine (PFE) of Juniper Networks Junos OS on MX Series allows an adjacent, unauthenticated attacker to cause a Denial of Service (DoS).
If an MX Series device receives PTP packets on an MPC3E that doesn't support PTP this causes a memory leak which will result in unpredictable behavior and ultimately in an MPC crash and restart.
To monitor for this issue, please use the following FPC vty level commands:
show heap shows an increase in "LAN buffer" utilization and
show clksync ptp nbr-upd-info shows non-zero "Pending PFEs" counter.
This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS on MX Series with MPC3E:
- All versions earlier than 20.4R3-S3;
- 21.1 versions earlier than 21.1R3-S4;
- 21.2 versions earlier than 21.2R3;
- 21.3 versions earlier than 21.3R2-S1, 21.3R3;
- 21.4 versions earlier than 21.4R2;
- 22.1 versions earlier than 22.1R2.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Adjacent network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
Junos OS: MX Series: MPC3E memory leak with PTP configuration
A Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime vulnerability in the Packet Forwarding Engine (PFE) of Juniper Networks Junos OS on MX Series allows an adjacent, unauthenticated attacker to cause a Denial of Service (DoS).
If an MX Series device receives PTP packets on an MPC3E that doesn't support PTP this causes a memory leak which will result in unpredictable behavior and ultimately in an MPC crash and restart.
To monitor for this issue, please use the following FPC vty level commands:
show heap shows an increase in "LAN buffer" utilization and
show clksync ptp nbr-upd-info shows non-zero "Pending PFEs" counter.
This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS on MX Series with MPC3E:
- All versions earlier than 20.4R3-S3;
- 21.1 versions earlier than 21.1R3-S4;
- 21.2 versions earlier than 21.2R3;
- 21.3 versions earlier than 21.3R2-S1, 21.3R3;
- 21.4 versions earlier than 21.4R2;
- 22.1 versions earlier than 22.1R2.
- Record
CVE-2024-21599- CVSS 3.1
- 6.5 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-401
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2024-19247
A Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime vulnerability in the Packet Forwarding Engine (PFE) of Juniper Networks Junos OS on MX Series allows an adjacent, unauthenticated attacker to cause a Denial of Service (DoS).
If an MX Series device receives PTP packets on an MPC3E that doesn't support PTP this causes a memory leak which will result in unpredictable behavior and ultimately in an MPC crash and restart.
To monitor for this issue, please use the following FPC vty level commands:
show heap shows an increase in "LAN buffer" utilization and
show clksync ptp nbr-upd-info shows non-zero "Pending PFEs" counter.
This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS on MX Series with MPC3E:
- All versions earlier than 20.4R3-S3;
- 21.1 versions earlier than 21.1R3-S4;
- 21.2 versions earlier than 21.2R3;
- 21.3 versions earlier than 21.3R2-S1, 21.3R3;
- 21.4 versions earlier than 21.4R2;
- 22.1 versions earlier than 22.1R2.
- Record
EUVD-2024-19247- CVSS 3.1
- 6.5 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-pw7f-949h-594r
A Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime vulnerability in the Packet Forwarding...
A Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime vulnerability in the Packet Forwarding Engine (PFE) of Juniper Networks Junos OS on MX Series allows an adjacent, unauthenticated attacker to cause a Denial of Service (DoS).
If an MX Series device receives PTP packets on an MPC3E that doesn't support PTP this causes a memory leak which will result in unpredictable behavior and ultimately in an MPC crash and restart.
To monitor for this issue, please use the following FPC vty level commands:
show heap shows an increase in "LAN buffer" utilization and
show clksync ptp nbr-upd-info shows non-zero "Pending PFEs" counter.
This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS on MX Series with MPC3E:
- All versions earlier than 20.4R3-S3;
- 21.1 versions earlier than 21.1R3-S4;
- 21.2 versions earlier than 21.2R3;
- 21.3 versions earlier than 21.3R2-S1, 21.3R3;
- 21.4 versions earlier than 21.4R2;
- 22.1 versions earlier than 22.1R2.
- Record
GHSA-pw7f-949h-594r- CVSS 3.1
- 6.5 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-401
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
A Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime vulnerability in the Packet Forwarding Engine (PFE) of Juniper Networks Junos OS on MX Series allows an adjacent, unauthenticated attacker to cause a Denial of Service (DoS).
If an MX Series device receives PTP packets on an MPC3E that doesn't support PTP this causes a memory leak which will result in unpredictable behavior and ultimately in an MPC crash and restart.
To monitor for this issue, please use the following FPC vty level commands:
show heap shows an increase in "LAN buffer" utilization and
show clksync ptp nbr-upd-info shows non-zero "Pending PFEs" counter.
This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS on MX Series with MPC3E:
- All versions earlier than 20.4R3-S3;
- 21.1 versions earlier than 21.1R3-S4;
- 21.2 versions earlier than 21.2R3;
- 21.3 versions earlier than 21.3R2-S1, 21.3R3;
- 21.4 versions earlier than 21.4R2;
- 22.1 versions earlier than 22.1R2.
- Record
CVE-2024-21599- CVSS 3.1
- 6.5 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-401
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| first indexed | CVE List, EUVD, GitHub Advisories, NVD |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2024-21599 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 6.5) in Juniper Junos, published January 12, 2024. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.29%, the 21st percentile. No source names a fixed version.