Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
-
AccessReach PTX routing plane
-
DeliveryInject continuous routing updates
-
ExploitForm large-scale unilist ECMP routes
-
ExecutionCorrupt evo-aftmand internal state
-
PersistCrash PFE process (core)
-
ImpactForwarding DoS until manual FPC restart
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A10:2025 - Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions
ASVS 5.0
V16 - Security Logging and Error Handling Unusual condition handling
|
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires the target to be a PTX Series router running Junos OS Evolved 24.4R2-EVO through pre-24.4R2-S3-EVO or 25.2 through pre-25.2R2-EVO, and the attacker must be able to generate continuous routing updates that cause the router to form unilist (unified-list) ECMP routes - the specific condition is the processing of unilist ECMP routing updates, most impactful in large-scale ECMP unilist deployments. Limiting factors are significant: the CVSS AT:P flag and the vendor statement confirm that successful exploitation depends on 'a sequence of events outside an attacker's direct control,' so the attacker cannot deterministically trigger the crash; it is realistically reachable only where the router accepts/processes attacker-influenced routing updates at ECMP scale. No authentication is required (PR:N) and no user interaction is needed (UI:N), but the practical prerequisite of injecting sustained ECMP-generating routing updates against a large-scale deployment meaningfully narrows real-world exploitability. |
| Impact | The signals are internally consistent and point to a real but conditional availability risk. The CVSS 4.0 vector (AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N, VA:H, SA:L) scores 8.2 (High): network-reachable and unauthenticated, but crucially carries AT:P (attack requirements present), which aligns with the vendor's statement that exploitation hinges on a 'sequence of events outside an attacker's direct control' - i.e., the attacker cannot reliably force the exact routing-update/unilist conditions on demand. Impact is availability-only (no confidentiality or integrity), with VA:H on the vulnerable system and SA:L subsequent impact. There is no EPSS score, no SSVC decision, no KEV listing, and no POC in the provided data, so exploitation probability cannot be quantified - but the combination of unauthenticated network vector against carrier-core routers makes this a legitimate patch priority for exposed PTX deployments, tempered by the non-deterministic trigger conditions. This is a genuine availability concern for large-scale ECMP environments, not a low-real-risk inflated score, but it is not a point-and-click DoS. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker positioned to influence routing state toward an exposed PTX core router (for example via a peering session or upstream route injection) generates continuous routing updates that repeatedly create and churn equal-cost paths, driving the router to build large-scale unilist ECMP next-hop structures. Under the right sequence of updates, evo-aftmand mishandles the exceptional condition, corrupts internal state, and cores on the PFE, dropping forwarding on that FPC until an operator manually restarts it. No public exploit code is known, and the precise triggering sequence is not fully under the attacker's control. |
Get an e-mail when this CVE is exploited, patched or re-scored. Free account.
Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Jul 09, 2026
Denial-of-service in Juniper Junos OS Evolved on PTX Series routers lets an unauthenticated network attacker crash the advanced forwarding toolkit process (evo-aftmand) on the Packet Forwarding Engine by driving continuous routing updates that produce unified-list (unilist) ECMP routes. The resulting internal state corruption generates an evo-aftmand-bx core and halts forwarding, requiring a manual FPC restart or system reboot to recover. No public exploit identified at time of analysis; the vendor (Juniper SIRT) notes successful exploitation depends on a sequence of events outside the attacker's direct control, so this is a high-CVSS availability issue rather than a trivially reproducible one.
RemediationAI
Vendor-released patch: upgrade to Junos OS Evolved 24.4R2-S3-EVO or later on the 24.4 train, or 25.2R2-EVO or later on the 25.2 train, per Juniper advisory JSA110073 (https://supportportal.juniper.net/JSA110073). No workaround is documented in the provided data; because the trigger is malformed/exceptional unilist ECMP update processing rather than a specific toggleable feature, compensating controls should focus on limiting who can inject routing updates - restrict and authenticate routing-protocol adjacencies (e.g., BGP/IGP peer filtering, authentication, and prefix limits), apply control-plane protection/loopback filters to accept routing sessions only from trusted peers, and constrain the scale/churn of ECMP paths where feasible. These controls reduce exposure of the PFE forwarding daemon to attacker-influenced updates but do not remove the underlying defect; the trade-off is added routing configuration complexity and potential impact on legitimate dynamic peering. If a crash occurs, recovery requires manually rebooting the system or restarting the affected FPC.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 2 packages in euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
The affected component is evo-aftmand, the advanced forwarding toolkit manager daemon that programs forwarding state onto the PFE in Junos OS Evolved (Juniper's Linux-based, disaggregated network OS running on PTX Series service-provider core routers). The root cause is CWE-754 (Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions): while processing ECMP routing updates that resolve into unilist next-hop structures - where multiple equal-cost paths are collapsed into a single logical next-hop list entry for load balancing - the code fails to correctly handle an exceptional/large-scale condition, corrupting internal state. Because unilist consolidation is exercised most heavily in large-scale ECMP deployments, the defect surfaces there, and the crash of a PFE-resident daemon translates directly into a forwarding/availability outage on that FPC.
Know when Junos Os Evolved gets its next vulnerability
- Watch products and get an email when something new is published
- Check this CVE against your own stack and servers
- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
No credit card · 7-day full trial
Severity by source
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:L/AU:Y/R:U/V:C/RE:M/U:Green
Network-reachable and unauthenticated (AV:N/PR:N) but the trigger depends on events outside attacker control, so AC:H; impact is availability-only (A:H) with no confidentiality or integrity effect.
Primary rating from Vendor (juniper).
CVSS VectorVendor: juniper
Lifecycle Timeline
1DescriptionCVE.org
An Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions vulnerability in the
advanced forwarding toolkit (evo-aftmand)
of Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved on PTX Series allows an unauthenticated network-based attacker generating continuous routing updates, resulting in unilist ECMP routes, to crash the
evo-aftmand process on the PFE, leading to a Denial-of-Service (DoS). The conditions required for successful exploitation are based on a sequence of events that are outside an attacker's direct control.
Unified list (unilist) ECMP routes are a specific ECMP behavior where multiple equal-cost routes share a single logical next-hop list entry. The router treats them as one route with multiple next hops and load balances traffic across that unified list. Due to an issue processing unilist ECMP routing updates, internal state corruption may occur, especially in large-scale ECMP unilist deployments, leading to the evo-aftmand process crashing, resulting in an evo-aftmand-bx core. Manual intervention is required to recover by rebooting the system or restarting the FPC.
This issue affects Junos OS Evolved on PTX :
- from 24.4R2-EVO before 24.4R2-S3-EVO;
- from 25.2 before 25.2R2-EVO.
Articles & Coverage 2
Executive ViewAI
PTX Series routers running Juniper Junos OS Evolved are vulnerable to a network denial-of-service attack that can crash packet forwarding engines and require manual system recovery to restore service. Exploitation requires a specific sequence of network events outside attacker control, reducing immediate risk but necessitating proactive mitigation. Organizations with these deployments should prioritize interim controls and monitor vendor updates for patch availability.
No vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis. Interim mitigations: (1) Implement rate limiting on routing protocol updates to constrain continuous update sequences; (2) Restrict routing update sources to trusted peers via access control lists; (3) Enable continuous monitoring of evo-aftmand process with automated alerting on crashes; (4) Establish rapid failover and manual restart procedures; (5) For critical deployments, pre-stage replacement hardware or maintain hot standby router capacity.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.
More in Junos Os Evolved
View allAn Improper Handling of Exceptional Conditions vulnerability in Juniper Networks Junos OS and Junos OS Evolved allows an
An unauthenticated attacker on an adjacent Layer 2 segment can sustain a denial-of-service condition against Juniper Jun
An Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere vulnerability in the sampling service of Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved allow
Unauthenticated OS command injection in Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved's bootzd zero-touch provisioning (ZTP) daemon
An improper check for unusual or exceptional conditions in Juniper Networks Junos OS and Junos OS Evolved Routing Protoc
Authenticated, low-privileged TACACS+ users on Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved can escalate to root and execute arbitr
A Missing Release of File Descriptor or Handle after Effective Lifetime vulnerability in plugable authentication module
Unauthenticated OS command injection in the bootzd zero-touch provisioning (ZTP) daemon of Juniper Networks Junos OS Evo
OS command injection in the phcd phone-home daemon of Juniper Networks Junos OS and Junos OS Evolved lets an adjacent, u
Heap-based buffer overflow in the sdxd service-deployment daemon of Juniper Networks Junos OS and Junos OS Evolved allow
Unauthenticated remote code execution with elevated privileges is possible in Juniper Junos OS and Junos OS Evolved thro
Remote root code execution in the routing protocol daemon (rpd) of Juniper Junos OS is reachable through protocol-valid
EUVD-2026-42699
GHSA-978v-9chj-92p2
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
VulDB
Exploit-DB