CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2024-21616

Improper Validation of Syntactic Correctness of Input

Published: Jan 12, 2024 | Modified: Nov 21, 2024
CVSS 3.x
7.5
HIGH
Source:
NVD
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS 2.x
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu

An Improper Validation of Syntactic Correctness of Input vulnerability in Packet Forwarding Engine (PFE) of Juniper Networks Junos OS allows an unauthenticated, network-based attacker to cause Denial of Service (DoS).

On all Junos OS MX Series and SRX Series platforms, when SIP ALG is enabled, and a specific SIP packet is received and processed, NAT IP allocation fails for genuine traffic, which causes Denial of Service (DoS). Continuous receipt of this specific SIP ALG packet will cause a sustained DoS condition.

NAT IP usage can be monitored by running the following command.

user@srx> show security nat resource-usage source-pool <source_pool_name>

Pool name: source_pool_name .. Address Factor-index Port-range Used Avail Total Usage X.X.X.X 0 Single Ports 50258 52342 62464 96% ««<

  • Alg Ports 0 2048 2048 0% This issue affects:

Juniper Networks Junos OS on MX Series and SRX Series

  • All versions earlier than 21.2R3-S6;
  • 21.3 versions earlier than 21.3R3-S5;
  • 21.4 versions earlier than 21.4R3-S5;
  • 22.1 versions earlier than 22.1R3-S4;
  • 22.2 versions earlier than 22.2R3-S3;
  • 22.3 versions earlier than 22.3R3-S1;
  • 22.4 versions earlier than 22.4R2-S2, 22.4R3;
  • 23.2 versions earlier than 23.2R1-S1, 23.2R2.

Weakness

The product receives input that is expected to be well-formed - i.e., to comply with a certain syntax - but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input complies with the syntax.

Affected Software

Name Vendor Start Version End Version
Junos Juniper 21.2 (including) 21.2 (including)
Junos Juniper 21.2-r1 (including) 21.2-r1 (including)
Junos Juniper 21.2-r1-s1 (including) 21.2-r1-s1 (including)
Junos Juniper 21.2-r1-s2 (including) 21.2-r1-s2 (including)
Junos Juniper 21.2-r2 (including) 21.2-r2 (including)
Junos Juniper 21.2-r2-s1 (including) 21.2-r2-s1 (including)
Junos Juniper 21.2-r2-s2 (including) 21.2-r2-s2 (including)
Junos Juniper 21.2-r3 (including) 21.2-r3 (including)
Junos Juniper 21.2-r3-s1 (including) 21.2-r3-s1 (including)
Junos Juniper 21.2-r3-s2 (including) 21.2-r3-s2 (including)
Junos Juniper 21.2-r3-s3 (including) 21.2-r3-s3 (including)
Junos Juniper 21.2-r3-s4 (including) 21.2-r3-s4 (including)
Junos Juniper 21.2-r3-s5 (including) 21.2-r3-s5 (including)

Extended Description

Often, complex inputs are expected to follow a particular syntax, which is either assumed by the input itself, or declared within metadata such as headers. The syntax could be for data exchange formats, markup languages, or even programming languages. When untrusted input is not properly validated for the expected syntax, attackers could cause parsing failures, trigger unexpected errors, or expose latent vulnerabilities that might not be directly exploitable if the input had conformed to the syntax.

Potential Mitigations

  • Assume all input is malicious. Use an “accept known good” input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does.
  • When performing input validation, consider all potentially relevant properties, including length, type of input, the full range of acceptable values, missing or extra inputs, syntax, consistency across related fields, and conformance to business rules. As an example of business rule logic, “boat” may be syntactically valid because it only contains alphanumeric characters, but it is not valid if the input is only expected to contain colors such as “red” or “blue.”
  • Do not rely exclusively on looking for malicious or malformed inputs. This is likely to miss at least one undesirable input, especially if the code’s environment changes. This can give attackers enough room to bypass the intended validation. However, denylists can be useful for detecting potential attacks or determining which inputs are so malformed that they should be rejected outright.

References