CVE-2013-4179: Nova Denial of Service Vulnerability

MODERATE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-j6xh-q826-55jw
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CWE-119
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2013-4179 is a MODERATE denial of service vulnerability (CWE-119: Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer) affecting Nova libraries in the PyPI ecosystem. The issue involves openstack compute (nova) vulnerable to denial of service via xml entity expansion attack. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 2013.2.

CVE-2013-4179 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2013-4179
GHSA Identifier GHSA-j6xh-q826-55jw
Severity MODERATE
CVSS v3.1 Base Score N/A
CWE Classification CWE-119: Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer
Affected Product Nova
Package Ecosystem PyPI
Published Date
Last Updated

How to Fix CVE-2013-4179

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Nova dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

nova fixed: 2013.2 
pip install nova>=2013.2
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

pip show nova

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Python environment is affected by CVE-2013-4179, inspect your installed packages using pip:

pip show nova

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Nova in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 2013.2), your application is affected.

Note: The pip show nova command checks currently installed packages in your active Python environment.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-119: Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer, where the product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it reads from or writes to a memory location outside the buffer's intended boundary. this may result in read or write operations on unexpected memory locations that could be linked to other variables, data structures, or internal program data. In Nova, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

The security group extension in OpenStack Compute (Nova) Grizzly 2013.1.3, Havana before havana-3, and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (resource consumption and crash) via an XML Entity Expansion (XEE) attack. NOTE: this issue is due to an incomplete fix for CVE-2013-1664.

CVE-2013-4179 Affected Nova Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
2013.2
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
nova
pypi/nova
PyPI
< 2013.2
2013.2

References

NVD — CVE-2013-4179 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2013-4179
access.redhat.com/errata/rhsa-2013:11... WEB
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013:1199
Nova Security Information SECURITY
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2013-4179
bugs.launchpad.net/ossa/+bug/1190229 WEB
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ossa/+bug/1190229
bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi WEB
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=989707
opendev.org/openstack/nova PACKAGE
https://opendev.org/openstack/nova
rhn.redhat.com/errata/rhsa-2013-11... WEB
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013-1199.html
www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-2005-1 WEB
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2005-1

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2013-4179?
CVE-2013-4179 is a security vulnerability in Nova involving OpenStack Compute (Nova) vulnerable to denial of service via XML Entity Expansion attack under CWE-119: Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer.
Which Nova versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 2013.2 across affected packages: nova.
What version fixes CVE-2013-4179?
Upgrading to 2013.2 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is nova affected?
Yes, nova is affected in releases prior to 2013.2. Upgrade your dependency to 2013.2 or later.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2013-4179?
CVE-2013-4179 is classified under CWE-119: Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer (The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it reads from or writes to a memory location outside the buffer's intended boundary. This may result in read or write operations on unexpected memory locations that could be linked to other variables, data structures, or internal program data.).
How can I check PyPI dependencies for CVE-2013-4179?
Run the dependency tree command: 'pip show nova'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-j6xh-q826-55jw",
  "modified" : "2023-02-08T21:31:21Z",
  "published" : "2022-05-17T04:58:58Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2013-4179" ],
  "summary" : "OpenStack Compute (Nova) vulnerable to denial of service via XML Entity Expansion attack",
  "details" : "The security group extension in OpenStack Compute (Nova) Grizzly 2013.1.3, Havana before havana-3, and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (resource consumption and crash) via an XML Entity Expansion (XEE) attack.  NOTE: this issue is due to an incomplete fix for CVE-2013-1664.",
  "severity" : [ ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "nova"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "2013.2"
      } ]
    } ],
    "database_specific" : {
      "last_known_affected_version_range" : "<= 2013.1.3"
    }
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2013-4179"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013:1199"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2013-4179"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://bugs.launchpad.net/ossa/+bug/1190229"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=989707"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://opendev.org/openstack/nova"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013-1199.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2005-1"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-119" ],
    "severity" : "MODERATE",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2023-02-08T21:31:21Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2013-09-16T19:14:00Z"
  }
}