CVE-2012-5482 in Glance
Summary
by MITRE
The v2 API in OpenStack Glance Grizzly, Folsom (2012.2), and Essex (2012.1) allows remote authenticated users to delete arbitrary non-protected images via an image deletion request. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2012-4573.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/19/2021
The vulnerability described in CVE-2012-5482 represents a critical authorization flaw within the OpenStack Glance service that affects multiple versions of the platform including Grizzly, Folsom, and Essex releases from 2012. This security weakness specifically targets the v2 API implementation and stems from an insufficient remediation of a previously identified vulnerability CVE-2012-4573, creating a persistent security gap that allows malicious actors to exploit image deletion functionality. The flaw manifests when authenticated users manipulate image deletion requests to target images that they should not have authorization to modify or remove, effectively bypassing the intended access controls that should protect non-protected images from unauthorized deletion. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and leverages the existing authentication mechanisms within the OpenStack ecosystem to escalate privileges through improper validation of image access rights during deletion operations.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability occurs within the image management subsystem of Glance where the API fails to properly verify whether the authenticated user possesses the necessary permissions to delete specific images. This authorization bypass allows attackers to submit deletion requests for images that are not marked as protected, even when those images do not belong to the requesting user or are outside their designated access scope. The flaw demonstrates characteristics consistent with CWE-285, which addresses improper authorization issues in software systems, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078 for valid accounts and T1485 for data destruction. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it operates within the core image management functionality that serves as a fundamental component for cloud infrastructure operations, potentially allowing attackers to disrupt service availability and data integrity.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple unauthorized image deletion to potentially compromise the entire cloud infrastructure's image management capabilities and data integrity. Attackers could systematically remove critical images from the repository, causing service disruptions for dependent applications, or selectively target specific image collections to create denial-of-service conditions. The vulnerability affects organizations using OpenStack deployments where image management is critical for virtual machine provisioning and cloud service delivery, potentially leading to significant business disruption and data loss. Organizations relying on these vulnerable versions face the risk of unauthorized modification or deletion of their cloud image repositories, which could impact multiple virtual machine instances and services that depend on those images. The security implications are compounded by the fact that the vulnerability exists in widely deployed versions of OpenStack, meaning that numerous cloud environments across different sectors could be at risk.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2012-5482 require immediate implementation of the vendor-provided patches that address the incomplete fix for CVE-2012-4573, along with comprehensive security reviews of image management access controls. Organizations should implement additional monitoring and logging of image deletion activities to detect unauthorized access attempts and establish stricter access control policies for image management operations. The remediation process involves upgrading to patched versions of OpenStack Glance, which should include proper authorization validation and enforcement mechanisms for all image deletion requests. Security administrators should also consider implementing network segmentation and access control lists to limit exposure of the vulnerable API endpoints, while ensuring that audit logs capture all image management operations for forensic analysis. Organizations should conduct thorough vulnerability assessments to identify any other potential authorization bypasses in their OpenStack deployments and review their overall cloud security posture to prevent similar issues in other components of their infrastructure.