CVE-2014-7813 in CloudForms
Summary
by MITRE
Red Hat CloudForms 3 Management Engine (CFME) allows remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (resource consumption) via vectors involving calls to the .to_sym rails function and lack of garbage collection of inserted symbols.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/25/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-7813 affects Red Hat CloudForms 3 Management Engine, a comprehensive cloud management platform that provides infrastructure automation and orchestration capabilities. This issue represents a significant security concern within the application's handling of user input and memory management processes. The vulnerability specifically targets the Ruby on Rails framework components within CFME, where improper handling of symbolic representations leads to resource exhaustion. The flaw exists in the application's processing of user-supplied data through the .to_sym method, which is commonly used in Ruby applications for converting strings to symbols. When authenticated users submit crafted input that triggers multiple calls to this method, the application fails to properly manage the symbol cache, leading to uncontrolled memory growth and eventual system resource depletion.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through the manipulation of the Rails .to_sym function, which is designed to convert string representations into Ruby symbols for efficient lookup and processing. In Ruby, symbols are immutable objects that are cached by the interpreter, and when an attacker repeatedly calls .to_sym with unique string inputs, each new symbol is added to the global symbol table without proper cleanup. This behavior is particularly dangerous in web applications where user input is processed without adequate validation or sanitization. The lack of garbage collection for these inserted symbols means that each malicious request contributes to the accumulation of symbols in memory, eventually consuming all available memory resources and causing the application to become unresponsive or crash entirely. This type of vulnerability aligns with CWE-400, which describes improper resource management, and specifically relates to memory leaks in interpreted languages where symbol tables are not properly maintained.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption, as it can affect the entire cloud management infrastructure that CFME provides. Organizations relying on CloudForms for their cloud operations may experience complete service outages, preventing administrators from managing their cloud resources effectively. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it requires only authenticated access, meaning that any user with valid credentials can potentially trigger the denial of service condition. This makes it a significant risk for environments where privileged accounts are compromised or where insider threats exist. The resource consumption pattern makes detection challenging as it may appear as normal application behavior until the system becomes unresponsive, and the attack can be executed continuously without requiring sophisticated techniques or specialized tools. From an attacker's perspective, this vulnerability provides a straightforward path to disrupting critical infrastructure management services, which can have cascading effects on business operations and cloud deployment workflows.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2014-7813 should focus on both immediate patching and defensive programming practices within the application. Organizations should prioritize applying the vendor-provided security updates and patches that address the symbol cache management issue in the Rails framework components. Additionally, implementing input validation and sanitization measures can help prevent malicious inputs from reaching the vulnerable .to_sym processing functions. The application should be configured with appropriate memory limits and monitoring to detect unusual resource consumption patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts. Implementing rate limiting and request validation for user inputs can also reduce the impact of such attacks by limiting the number of potentially malicious requests that can be processed. From a security monitoring perspective, organizations should establish baseline memory usage patterns for the CFME application and implement alerting mechanisms for deviations that may indicate resource exhaustion attacks. The remediation process should also include reviewing and updating the application's security configuration to ensure proper garbage collection practices are enforced. This vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper resource management in web applications and highlights the need for comprehensive security testing that includes memory usage analysis and resource consumption monitoring to prevent similar issues in the future.