CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2023-44201 — Juniper Junos security vulnerability

Medium CVSS 5.5

An Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource vulnerability in a specific file of Juniper Networks Junos OS and Junos OS Evolved allows a local authenticated attacker to read configuration changes without having the permissions. When a user with the respective permissions commits a configuration change, a specific file is created. That file is readable even by users with no permissions to access the configuration. This can lead to privilege escalation as the user can read the password hash when a password change is being committed. This issue affects: Juniper Networks Junos OS * All versions prior to 20.4R3-S4; * 21.1 versions prior to 21.1R3-S4; * 21.2 versions prior to 21.2R3-S2; * 21.3 versions prior to 21.3R2-S2, 21.3R3-S1; * 21.4 versions prior to 21.4R2-S1, 21.4R3. Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved * All versions prior to 20.4R3-S4-EVO; * 21.1 versions prior to 21.1R3-S2-EVO; * 21.2 versions prior to 21.2R3-S2-EVO; * 21.3 versions prior to 21.3R3-S1-EVO; * 21.4 versions prior to 21.4R2-S2-EVO.

Severity
Medium
CVSS
5.5 (3.1)
Published
2023-10-13
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
operating-system
Weaknesses
CWE-732

Affected products

  • juniper / junos
  • juniper / junos / 20.4
  • juniper / junos / 21.1

Showing 3 representative product identities from 86 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

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

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