Summary
A Use After Free vulnerability in the routing protocol daemon (rpd) of Juniper Networks Junos OS...
A Use After Free vulnerability in the routing protocol daemon (rpd) of Juniper Networks Junos OS and Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved allows an attacker sending a BGP update with a specifically malformed AS PATH to cause rpd to crash, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS). Continuous receipt of the malformed AS PATH attribute will cause a sustained DoS condition.
On all Junos OS and Junos OS Evolved platforms, the rpd process will crash and restart when a specifically malformed AS PATH is received within a BGP update and traceoptions are enabled.
This issue only affects systems with BGP traceoptions enabled and requires a BGP session to be already established. Systems without BGP traceoptions enabled are not impacted by this issue.
This issue affects:
Junos OS:
- All versions before 21.2R3-S9,
- all versions of 21.4,
- from 22.2 before 22.2R3-S6,
- from 22.4 before 22.4R3-S5,
- from 23.2 before 23.2R2-S3,
- from 23.4 before 23.4R2-S4,
- from 24.2 before 24.2R2;
Junos OS Evolved:
- All versions before 22.4R3-S5-EVO,
- from 23.2-EVO before 23.2R2-S3-EVO,
- from 23.4-EVO before 23.4R2-S4-EVO,
- from 24.2-EVO before 24.2R2-EVO.
This is a more complete fix for previously published CVE-2024-39549 (JSA83011).
Impact
Memory is accessed after it has been freed, leading to undefined behavior in native code. Typical impact: memory corruption, crash, or potential code execution.
CVE-2025-52946 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (High). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. No fixed version is listed yet, so configuration controls and monitoring matter more in the interim.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2025-52946? CVE-2025-52946 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability. No fixed version is listed yet. Memory is accessed after it has been freed, leading to undefined behavior in native code.
- How severe is CVE-2025-52946? CVE-2025-52946 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (High). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2025-52946? No fixed version is listed for CVE-2025-52946 yet. Monitor the advisory for updates and apply mitigations in the interim.
- Is CVE-2025-52946 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2025-52946 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2025-52946 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.