Session Smart Router(SSR): On redundant router deployments API authentication can be bypassed

Description

An Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel vulnerability in Juniper Networks Session Smart Router or conductor running with a redundant peer allows a network based attacker to bypass authentication and take full control of the device. Only routers or conductors that are running in high-availability redundant configurations are affected by this vulnerability. No other Juniper Networks products or platforms are affected by this issue. This issue affects: Session Smart Router:  * All versions before 5.6.15,  * from 6.0 before 6.1.9-lts,  * from 6.2 before 6.2.5-sts. Session Smart Conductor:  * All versions before 5.6.15,  * from 6.0 before 6.1.9-lts,  * from 6.2 before 6.2.5-sts.  WAN Assurance Router:  * 6.0 versions before 6.1.9-lts,  * 6.2 versions before 6.2.5-sts.

Scores

EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)

1.1% · top 35% of all CVEs (6 Nov 2026)

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: none · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: total

The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Critical 10.0.

Weakness

• CWE-288 Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel (opens in a new tab)All about CWE-288 and its CVEs

Affected products

• Juniper Networks · Session Smart Router

  • affected < 5.6.15
  • affected 6.0 – < 6.1.9-lts
  • affected 6.2 – < 6.2.5-sts

• Juniper Networks · Session Smart Conductor

  • affected < 5.6.15
  • affected 6.0 – < 6.1.9-lts
  • affected 6.2 – < 6.2.5-sts

• Juniper Networks · WAN Assurance Router

  • affected 6.0 – < 6.1.9-lts
  • affected 6.2 – < 6.2.5-sts

What to do

Solution: The following software releases have been updated to resolve this issue: Session Smart Router: SSR-5.6.15, SSR-6.1.9-lts, SSR-6.2.5-sts, and subsequent releases. It is suggested to upgrade all affected systems to these versions of software. In a Conductor-managed deployment, it is sufficient to upgrade the Conductor nodes only and the fix will be applied automatically to all connected routers. As practical, the routers should still be upgraded to a fixed version however they will not be vulnerable once they connect to an upgraded Conductor. This vulnerability has been patched automatically on affected devices for WAN Assurance routers connected to the Mist Cloud. For systems that are provisioned in a High-Availability cluster, these should be upgraded to a patched version as soon as practical (SSR-6.1.9 or SSR-6.2.5). It is important to note that the fix is applied automatically on managed routers by a Conductor or on WAN assurance routers has no impact on data-plane functions of the router. The application of the fix is non-disruptive to production traffic. There may be a momentary downtime (less than 30 seconds) to the web-based management and APIs however this will resolve quickly.

Workaround: There are no known workarounds for this issue.

Exploitation: Juniper SIRT is not aware of any malicious exploitation of this vulnerability.

References (2)

• https://supportportal.juniper.net/JSA83126 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_transferred
• https://support.juniper.net/support/eol/software/ssr/ (opens in a new tab)relatedx_transferred

Sources

The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.

• CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
• CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
• NVD (opens in a new tab)
• FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
• OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
• GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
• CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)

Badge for a README or a ticket

[![CVE-2024-2973](https://trackcve.app/badge/CVE-2024-2973.svg)](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2024-2973)

Record last updated 1 Aug 2024, 19:32 UTC.