Juniper Releases Out-Of-Cycle Critical Update for Smart Routers

Juniper Networks has released an out-of-cycle critical update to address a severe vulnerability affecting its Session Smart Router, Session Smart Conductor, and WAN Assurance Router products.

The security flaw, identified as CVE-2024-2973, allows network-based attackers to bypass authentication and gain full control of the affected devices.

This vulnerability is particularly concerning due to its high severity, with a CVSS score of 10.0 under both CVSS 3.1 and CVSS 4.0 metrics, indicating the maximum level of risk.

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Products Affected

The vulnerability impacts the following products:

• Session Smart Router: All versions before 5.6.15, versions from 6.0 before 6.1.9-lts, and versions from 6.2 before 6.2.5-sts.
• Session Smart Conductor: All versions before 5.6.15, versions from 6.0 before 6.1.9-lts, and versions from 6.2 before 6.2.5-sts.
• WAN Assurance Router: Versions 6.0 before 6.1.9-lts and versions 6.2 before 6.2.5-sts.

The vulnerability is classified as critical because it could allow attackers to bypass authentication and take complete control of the device.

This issue specifically affects routers and conductors operating in high-availability redundant configurations, which are commonly used in mission-critical network infrastructures such as large enterprises, data centers, telecommunications, and government services.

Juniper Networks has released updates to mitigate this vulnerability. The fixed versions are:

• Session Smart Router: SSR-5.6.15, SSR-6.1.9-lts, SSR-6.2.5-sts, and subsequent releases.
• Session Smart Conductor: Same versions as the Session Smart Router.
• WAN Assurance Router: Automatically patched when connected to the Mist Cloud.

Administrators are advised to upgrade to these versions to secure their systems. In Conductor-managed deployments, upgrading the Conductor nodes will automatically apply the fix to all connected routers.

However, upgrading the routers to the fixed versions is still recommended to ensure complete protection.

Juniper’s Security Incident Response Team (SIRT) has not observed any malicious exploitation of this vulnerability. The issue was discovered during internal security testing and research.

There are no known workarounds for this issue. The only recommended action is to apply the available updates.

The fix’s application is designed to be non-disruptive to production traffic, with only a brief downtime (less than 30 seconds) for web-based management and APIs.

Juniper Networks’ prompt response to this critical vulnerability underscores the importance of maintaining updated security measures in network infrastructure.

Administrators should prioritize applying these updates to protect their systems from potential exploitation.

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