Summary
A Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime vulnerability in the routing protocol daemon...
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.
Impact
CVE-2025-52986 has a CVSS score of 5.5 (Medium). The vector is requires local access, low 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.
Already deployed Kodem?
See it in your environmentNew to Kodem? Get a demo →Remediation advice
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2025-52986? CVE-2025-52986 is a medium-severity security vulnerability. No fixed version is listed yet.
- How severe is CVE-2025-52986? CVE-2025-52986 has a CVSS score of 5.5 (Medium). 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-2025-52986? No fixed version is listed for CVE-2025-52986 yet. Monitor the advisory for updates and apply mitigations in the interim.
- Is CVE-2025-52986 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2025-52986 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-2025-52986 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.