Juniper Networks has rolled out emergency security updates to fix a severe security vulnerability that has the potential to lead to an authentication bypass in certain routers.
The flaw, designated as CVE-2024-2973, has been assigned a CVSS score of 10.0, denoting extreme severity.
“A Security Vulnerability Utilizing an Alternative Route or Channel in Juniper Networks Session Smart Router or Conductor operating with a redundant peer permits a network-based assailant to circumvent authentication and acquire complete control over the device,” as per a statement released by the company last week.
As stated by Juniper Networks, the issue impacts only those routers or conductors that are functioning in high-availability redundant setups. Below is the list of affected devices:
- Session Smart Router (all versions prior to 5.6.15, from 6.0 ahead of 6.1.9-lts, and starting from 6.2 before 6.2.5-sts)
- Session Smart Conductor (all versions before 5.6.15, from 6.0 before 6.1.9-lts, and beginning from 6.2 before 6.2.5-sts)
- WAN Assurance Router (6.0 versions before 6.1.9-lts and 6.2 versions before 6.2.5-sts)
The networking device manufacturer, acquired by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) for around $14 billion earlier this year, affirmed that there is no evidence of active exploitation of the flaw in the wild.
The company also revealed that it came across the vulnerability during internal product evaluations and that there are no available workarounds to address the issue.
“The flaw has been automatically fixed on impacted devices for MIST managed WAN Assurance routers connected to the Mist Cloud,” it added. “It’s crucial to note that the remedy is implemented automatically on managed routers by a Conductor or on WAN assurance routers without affecting the router’s data-plane functionalities.”
In January 2024, the company also released patches for a critical vulnerability in the same products (CVE-2024-21591, CVSS score: 9.8) that could empower an attacker to trigger a denial-of-service (DoS) attack or carry out remote code execution and gain root-level privileges on the devices.
Given the multiple security vulnerabilities affecting the company’s SRX firewalls and EX switches utilized by threat actors last year, it is imperative for users to apply the patches to shield themselves against potential threats.
About Author
