CVE-2012-1572 in OpenStack Keystone
Summary
by MITRE
OpenStack Keystone: extremely long passwords can crash Keystone by exhausting stack space
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/13/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2012-1572 affects OpenStack Keystone, a critical identity service component within the OpenStack cloud computing platform that manages authentication and authorization for cloud resources. This flaw represents a classic stack overflow condition that occurs when the system processes extremely long password inputs without proper input validation or length restrictions. The vulnerability specifically targets the password handling mechanisms within Keystone's authentication framework, where insufficient bounds checking allows malicious or malformed inputs to consume excessive stack memory during processing operations.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input sanitization within the Keystone service's password validation routines. When a password exceeding normal length parameters is submitted, the system attempts to process this input through recursive or deeply nested stack operations that consume memory in a manner proportional to the input size. This creates a denial of service condition where the stack space allocated for processing the password becomes exhausted, causing the Keystone service to crash or become unresponsive. The flaw operates at the core authentication layer, making it particularly dangerous as it can be exploited to disrupt cloud service availability for legitimate users and administrators.
The operational impact of CVE-2012-1572 extends beyond simple service disruption to encompass broader security and availability concerns within OpenStack deployments. Organizations relying on Keystone for identity management face potential downtime and service degradation when this vulnerability is exploited, particularly in environments where automated authentication processes or bulk user provisioning operations might inadvertently trigger the stack exhaustion condition. The vulnerability affects the fundamental availability of the identity service, which serves as a cornerstone for access control and resource management across the entire OpenStack infrastructure. Attackers could leverage this weakness to perform denial of service attacks against cloud environments, potentially causing cascading failures in dependent services that rely on Keystone for authentication validation.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on implementing robust input validation and length restrictions within the Keystone authentication service. Organizations should establish maximum password length limits that prevent excessively long inputs from reaching the vulnerable processing routines. The recommended approach includes configuring the Keystone service to reject passwords exceeding predetermined length thresholds, typically well below the stack space limits that would cause system instability. Additionally, implementing proper bounds checking and memory management practices within the password processing code would prevent the stack overflow condition from occurring. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-121, stack-based buffer overflow, and represents a classic example of insufficient input validation that can be addressed through defensive programming practices and proper resource management. Organizations should also consider implementing monitoring and alerting mechanisms to detect unusual authentication patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts, and should ensure that all OpenStack components are updated to versions that address this specific vulnerability through proper code fixes and input validation controls.