Is CVE-2021-0223 being actively exploited?

CVE-2021-0223 is not currently listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2021-0223?

CVE-2021-0223 has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.8 (HIGH).

CVE-2021-0223

HIGH · CVSS 7.8EPSS 0.4%EU EUVD

A local privilege escalation vulnerability in telnetd.real of Juniper Networks Junos OS may allow a locally authenticated shell user to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary commands as root. telnetd.real is shipped with setuid permissions enabled and is owned by the root user, allowing local users to run telnetd.real with root privileges. This issue affects Juniper Networks Junos OS: all versions prior to 15.1R7-S9; 17.3 versions prior to 17.3R3-S11; 17.4 versions prior to 17.4R2-S12, 17.4R3-S3; 18.1 versions prior to 18.1R3-S11; 18.2 versions prior to 18.2R3-S6; 18.3 versions prior to 18.3R2-S4, 18.3R3-S4; 18.4 versions prior to 18.4R2-S7, 18.4R3-S6; 19.1 versions prior to 19.1R2-S2, 19.1R3-S4; 19.2 versions prior to 19.2R1-S6, 19.2R3-S1; 19.3 versions prior to 19.3R3-S1; 19.4 versions prior to 19.4R2-S2, 19.4R3; 20.1 versions prior to 20.1R1-S4, 20.1R2; 20.2 versions prior to 20.2R2.

Key facts

CVSS score: 7.8 (v3.1)
Severity: HIGH
CVSS vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness (CWE): CWE-250
EPSS score: 0.4% (31th percentile)
In CISA KEV: No
In EU EUVD: Yes (EUVD-2021-2842)
Published: January 15, 2021
NVD last modified: June 17, 2026
Status: Modified

EU Vulnerability Database (EUVD)

This vulnerability is also tracked by ENISA as EUVD-2021-2842 in the EU Vulnerability Database. Last updated in EUVD on September 17, 2024.

View on the EU Vulnerability Database

Affected products

juniper / junos
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and 147 more…

Certified products that may be affected

1 FIPS 140 or Common Criteria certified product, from automated matching by sec-certs.org.

Junos Space Network Management Platform, with or without Network Director and with or without Security Director in JA2500 - Juniper Networks, Inc. - FIPS 140 3816 - historical

References

https://kb.juniper.net/JSA11114(Vendor Advisory)

Last updated September 17, 2026 · Source: NVD, CISA KEV, FIRST.org EPSS

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