CVE-2014-0616 in Junos
Summary
by MITRE
Juniper Junos 10.4 before 10.4R16, 11.4 before 11.4R10, 12.1R before 12.1R8-S2, 12.1X44 before 12.1X44-D30, 12.1X45 before 12.1X45-D20, 12.1X46 before 12.1X46-D10, 12.2 before 12.2R7, 12.3 before 12.3R4-S2, 13.1 before 13.1R3-S1, 13.2 before 13.2R2, and 13.3 before 13.3R1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (rdp crash) via a large BGP UPDATE message which immediately triggers a withdraw message to be sent, as demonstrated by a long AS_PATH and a large number of BGP Communities.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/04/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-0616 represents a critical denial of service weakness in Juniper Junos operating system versions prior to specific patch releases. This flaw affects multiple major release branches including 10.4, 11.4, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 13.1, 13.2, and 13.3, demonstrating the widespread nature of the issue across Juniper's network infrastructure software. The vulnerability specifically targets the Border Gateway Protocol implementation within the routing daemon, making it particularly dangerous for network devices that rely heavily on BGP for routing decisions and traffic management.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through the manipulation of BGP UPDATE messages, which are fundamental components of the BGP protocol used for exchanging routing information between network devices. When a malicious actor sends a specially crafted BGP UPDATE message containing an excessively long AS_PATH attribute and a large number of BGP Communities, the affected Junos devices exhibit unpredictable behavior. The system immediately processes this malformed data by generating an excessive number of withdraw messages, creating a cascading effect that leads to system instability and eventual crash of the routing daemon process. This behavior creates a resource exhaustion scenario where the device's memory and processing capabilities are overwhelmed by the rapid generation of BGP withdraw notifications.
The operational impact of CVE-2014-0616 extends beyond simple service disruption to potentially compromise entire network infrastructures that depend on stable routing operations. Network devices running vulnerable Junos versions become vulnerable to remote attacks that can be executed without authentication, making them particularly attractive targets for adversaries seeking to disrupt network services. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-400, which addresses "Uncontrolled Resource Consumption" in network protocols, and can be mapped to ATT&CK technique T1499.004 for "Network Denial of Service" within the adversary tactics framework. Organizations relying on these vulnerable devices face significant risks including extended network outages, traffic blackholing, and potential cascading failures across interconnected network segments where BGP routing information flows.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate deployment of the vendor-supplied patches that address the specific handling of malformed BGP UPDATE messages within the routing daemon. Network administrators should implement BGP message filtering and validation mechanisms at network borders to prevent malformed UPDATE messages from reaching vulnerable devices. Additionally, implementing rate limiting for BGP UPDATE messages and monitoring for unusual patterns in BGP community attributes can provide early detection capabilities. The remediation process should include comprehensive testing of patched systems in non-production environments before full deployment to ensure no regressions in normal routing operations occur. Organizations should also consider implementing network segmentation strategies to isolate vulnerable devices and reduce the potential impact of successful exploitation attempts.