Receipt of a specific MPLS packet may cause MPC7/8/9, PTX-FPC3 (FPC-P1, FPC-P2) line cards or PTX1K to crash and restart. By continuously sending specific MPLS packets, an attacker can repeatedly crash the line cards or PTX1K causing a sustained Denial of Service. Affected releases are Juniper Networks Junos OS with MPC7/8/9 or PTX-FPC3 (FPC-P1, FPC-P2) installed and PTX1K: 15.1F versions prior to 15.1F6-S10; 15.1 versions prior to 15.1R4-S9, 15.1R6-S6, 15.1R7; 16.1 versions prior to 16.1R3-S8, 16.1R4-S9, 16.1R5-S4, 16.1R6-S3, 16.1R7; 16.1X65 versions prior to 16.1X65-D46; 16.2 versions prior to 16.2R1-S6, 16.2R2-S5, 16.2R3; 17.1 versions prior to 17.1R1-S7, 17.1R2-S7, 17.1R3; 17.2 versions prior to 17.2R1-S4, 17.2R2-S4, 17.2R3; 17.2X75 versions prior to 17.2X75-D70, 17.2X75-D90; 17.3 versions prior to 17.3R1-S4, 17.3R2, 17.4 versions prior to 17.4R1-S2, 17.4R2. Refer to KB25385 for more information about PFE line cards.
The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Junos | Juniper | 15.1-f (including) | 15.1-f (including) |
| Junos | Juniper | 15.1-f2 (including) | 15.1-f2 (including) |
| Junos | Juniper | 15.1-f3 (including) | 15.1-f3 (including) |
| Junos | Juniper | 15.1-f4 (including) | 15.1-f4 (including) |
| Junos | Juniper | 15.1-f5 (including) | 15.1-f5 (including) |
| Junos | Juniper | 15.1-f6 (including) | 15.1-f6 (including) |
Mitigation of resource exhaustion attacks requires that the target system either:
The first of these solutions is an issue in itself though, since it may allow attackers to prevent the use of the system by a particular valid user. If the attacker impersonates the valid user, they may be able to prevent the user from accessing the server in question.
The second solution is simply difficult to effectively institute – and even when properly done, it does not provide a full solution. It simply makes the attack require more resources on the part of the attacker.