CVE-2012-0030 in Nova
Summary
by MITRE
Nova 2011.3 and Essex, when using the OpenStack API, allows remote authenticated users to bypass access restrictions for tenants of other users via an OSAPI request with a modified project_id URI parameter.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/05/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2012-0030 represents a critical access control flaw within the OpenStack Nova compute service that affected versions 2011.3 and Essex. This issue stems from inadequate validation of project_id parameters within the OpenStack API implementation, specifically within the OSAPI component that governs tenant access controls. The flaw exists in the way the system processes requests that contain modified project_id values, allowing authenticated users to manipulate URI parameters and gain unauthorized access to resources belonging to different tenants.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through the manipulation of the project_id URI parameter in OSAPI requests. When an authenticated user submits a request containing a modified project_id value, the Nova service fails to properly validate or sanitize this parameter against the user's actual tenant permissions. This validation failure creates a path for privilege escalation where a malicious user can access compute resources, instances, and metadata belonging to other tenants within the same OpenStack deployment. The vulnerability essentially allows for cross-tenant data leakage and unauthorized resource access through API manipulation.
This access control bypass has significant operational implications for OpenStack deployments, particularly in multi-tenant environments where isolation between customer tenants is paramount. The vulnerability undermines the fundamental security principle of tenant isolation, potentially allowing attackers to access sensitive data, compute resources, and metadata belonging to other customers. In cloud environments where multiple organizations share the same infrastructure, this could lead to severe data breaches, compliance violations, and service disruption. The impact extends beyond simple information disclosure to potential system compromise and resource exhaustion attacks.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-285, which addresses improper authorization issues in software systems, and demonstrates characteristics consistent with ATT&CK technique T1078 for valid accounts and T1566 for phishing with social engineering. Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigations including patching to the latest stable releases of Nova, implementing additional API request validation layers, and enforcing stricter URI parameter validation. Network segmentation and monitoring of API access patterns can help detect anomalous requests containing modified project_id parameters. The fix typically involves strengthening the input validation mechanisms within the Nova service to ensure that all project_id parameters are properly authenticated against the requesting user's actual tenant permissions before granting access to resources.