What is CVE-2018-0044?

CVE-2018-0044 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Juniper Junos, classified under Improper Authentication. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2018-10-10.

How severe is CVE-2018-0044?

Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.

Auth bypass in Juniper Junos

CVE-2018-0044

An insecure SSHD configuration in Juniper Device Manager (JDM) and host OS on Juniper NFX Series devices may allow remote unauthenticated access if any of the passwords on the system are empty. The affected SSHD configuration has the PermitEmptyPasswords option set to "yes". Affected releases are Juniper Networks Junos OS: 18.1 versions prior to 18.1R4 on NFX Series.

Vulnerability class: Broken Authentication

Published 2018-10-10 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.013 (71.4th percentile), scored 2026-11-01.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 71st percentile — 71.4% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.013 · newest: 0.013 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Juniper Junos
Juniper Nfx150
Juniper Nfx250
Juniper Networks Junos OS — versions 18.1

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-287 — Improper Authentication

References

kb.juniper.net/JSA10878 (Vendor Advisory)
www.securityfocus.com/bid/105565 (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, vdb-entry)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-0044?: CVE-2018-0044 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Juniper Junos, classified under Improper Authentication. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2018-10-10.
How severe is CVE-2018-0044?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.