CVE-2024-39557: An Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in the Layer 2 Address Learning Daemon (l2ald) of Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved allows an unauthentic

An Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in the Layer 2 Address Learning Daemon (l2ald) of Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved allows an unauthentic

An Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in the Layer 2 Address Learning Daemon (l2ald) of Juniper Networks Junos OS Evolved allows an unauthenticated, adjacent attacker to cause a memory leak, eventually exhausting all system memory, leading to a system crash and Denial of Service (DoS). Certain MAC table updates cause a small amount of memory to leak. Once memory utilization reaches its limit, the issue will result in a system crash and restart. To identify the issue, execute the CLI command: user@device> show platform application-info allocations app l2ald-agent EVL Object Allocation Statistics: Node Application Context Name Live Allocs Fails Guids re0 l2ald-agent net::juniper::rtnh::L2Rtinfo 1069096 1069302 0 1069302 re0 l2ald-agent net::juniper::rtnh::NHOpaqueTlv 114 195 0 195 This issue affects Junos OS Evolved: * All versions before 21.4R3-S8-EVO, * from 22.2-EVO before 22.2R3-S4-EVO, * from 22.3-EVO before 22.3R3-S3-EVO, * from 22.4-EVO before 22.4R3-EVO, * from 23.2-EVO before 23.

Description from the National Vulnerability Database, published by sirt@juniper.net

What it means for a small business

Junos OS Evolved is network equipment or remote-access software: the box between your office and the internet. These are a favorite target because breaking one opens the whole office.

If an IT provider set it up, ask them to confirm the firmware version and the date it was updated. If nobody looks after it, that's the bigger problem.

How likely is an attack? The Exploit Prediction Scoring System, run by FIRST (the global association of security response teams), puts the odds of this one being exploited in the next 30 days at 0.25%, higher than 15% of CVEs. That’s low, but low isn’t zero, and the odds jump the day someone publishes an exploit. Scored November 8, 2026, updated daily.

Check your own setup

Website check: reads what your site runs from the outside (WordPress version, plugins it can see, old server software) and matches it against this database.
Server check: what your web server says about itself, and whether that version has known flaws.

Sources

Part of the Huttenlocher Technologies vulnerability database, refreshed twice a day from CISA and the NVD. The title, category and plain-language guidance are ours; check the linked record before acting on a detail. This is general guidance, not a review of your systems.

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