CVE intelligence and bounded remediation
CVE-2021-0204 — Juniper Junos security vulnerability
A sensitive information disclosure vulnerability in delta-export configuration utility (dexp) of Juniper Networks Junos OS may allow a locally authenticated shell user the ability to create and read database files generated by the dexp utility, including password hashes of local users. Since dexp is shipped with setuid permissions enabled and is owned by the root user, this vulnerability may allow a local privileged user the ability to run dexp with root privileges and access sensitive information in the dexp database. This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS: 15.1 versions prior to 15.1R7-S8; 15.1X49 versions prior to 15.1X49-D230; 17.3 versions prior to 17.3R3-S9; 17.4 versions prior to 17.4R2-S12, 17.4R3-S3; 18.1 versions prior to 18.1R3-S11; 18.2 versions prior to 18.2R3-S6; 18.2X75 versions prior to 18.2X75-D34; 18.3 versions prior to 18.3R3-S4; 18.4 versions prior to 18.4R2-S7, 18.4R3-S6; 19.1 versions prior to 19.1R1-S6, 19.1R2-S2, 19.1R3-S3; 19.2 versions prior to 19.2R1-S5, 19.2R3-S1; 19.3 versions prior to 19.3R2-S5, 19.3R3-S1; 19.4 versions prior to 19.4R1-S3, 19.4R2-S2, 19.4R3-S1; 20.1 versions prior to 20.1R1-S4, 20.1R2; 20.2 versions prior to 20.2R1-S2, 20.2R2.
- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 7.8 (3.1)
- Published
- 2021-01-15
- CISA KEV
- Not currently listed
- Ecosystem
- operating-system
- Weaknesses
- CWE-250, CWE-269
Affected products
- juniper / junos / 15.1
Matched remediation archetype
Privilege escalation and unsafe privilege management
This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.
Check exposure
- Map service accounts, operating-system identities, roles, capabilities, impersonation, set-user transitions, and administrative helper paths.
- Determine whether untrusted users or lower-privilege processes can reach the affected transition or modify inputs it trusts.
- Review file, socket, registry, device, job, container, and cloud-role permissions used before and after privilege changes.
Remediate safely
- Apply the supported fix and redesign privileged operations as a minimal, authenticated, allowlisted interface.
- Drop privileges before processing untrusted input, verify the drop succeeds, and remove unnecessary roles, capabilities, and write permissions.
- Validate ownership and permissions at time of use and add explicit lower-to-higher privilege boundary tests.
Authoritative sources
Complete CVE record and remediation plan
The detailed catalog view below loads this exact record, its source evidence, and the full seven-phase agentic change plan.