CVE-2025-52986: Juniper Networks Junos OS · Memory Leak
Affects Juniper Networks Junos OSSource CVE Database V5
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.5 Medium.
Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC
- EPSS
- 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 2% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 11 Jul 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors
A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.
What to do
Affected software
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| Juniper Networks Junos OS | Affected
| Fixed in– |
AI-suggested
To mitigate this vulnerability, European organizations should prioritize upgrading affected Junos OS and Junos OS Evolved devices to the fixed versions as listed by Juniper Networks. Since the vulnerability requires local access and the execution of specific routing-related commands, organizations should also enforce strict access controls and segmentation on network management interfaces to limit local user privileges. Monitoring memory usage of the rpd process using the provided CLI command can help detect early signs of exploitation. Implementing automated alerts for abnormal memory growth in rpd can enable proactive incident response. Additionally, network administrators should review and restrict the use of RIB sharding if it is not essential, as this feature is a prerequisite for the vulnerability. Regular auditing of user accounts and privileges, combined with network segmentation and multi-factor authentication for management access, will reduce the risk of unauthorized exploitation. Finally, organizations should maintain up-to-date backups and have incident response plans ready to address potential network outages caused by rpd crashes.
Description
A Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime vulnerability in the routing protocol daemon (rpd) of Juniper Networks Junos OS and Junos OS Evolved allows a local, low privileged user to cause an impact to the availability of the device. When RIB sharding is enabled and a user executes one of several routing related 'show' commands, a certain amount of memory is leaked. When all available memory has been consumed rpd will crash and restart. The leak can be monitored with the CLI command: show task memory detail | match task_shard_mgmt_cookie where the allocated memory in bytes can be seen to continuously increase with each exploitation. This issue affects: Junos OS: * all versions before 21.2R3-S9, * 21.4 versions before 21.4R3-S11, * 22.2 versions before 22.2R3-S7, * 22.4 versions before 22.4R3-S7, * 23.2 versions before 23.2R2-S4, * 23.4 versions before 23.4R2-S4, * 24.2 versions before 24.2R2, * 24.4 versions before 24.4R1-S2, 24.4R2; Junos OS Evolved: * all versions before 22.2R3-S7-EVO * 22.4-EVO versions before 22.4R3-S7-EVO, * 23.2-EVO versions before 23.2R2-S4-EVO, * 23.4-EVO versions before 23.4R2-S4-EVO, * 24.2-EVO versions before 24.2R2-EVO, * 24.4-EVO versions before 24.4R2-EVO.