CVE-2014-9623 in Image Registry And Delivery Service
Summary
by MITRE
OpenStack Glance 2014.2.x through 2014.2.1, 2014.1.3, and earlier allows remote authenticated users to bypass the storage quota and cause a denial of service (disk consumption) by deleting an image in the saving state.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/11/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-9623 affects OpenStack Glance versions 2014.2.x through 2014.2.1 and 2014.1.3, representing a critical security flaw that enables authenticated remote attackers to manipulate storage quota mechanisms. This issue stems from inadequate validation of image deletion operations within the Glance service, specifically when images are in the saving state. The flaw operates at the intersection of storage management and access control within cloud infrastructure platforms, creating a pathway for malicious actors to consume excessive disk resources while evading normal quota enforcement mechanisms.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability exploits a race condition or state validation gap in Glance's image management system. When an image is being saved to storage, the system maintains a transitional state that should prevent certain operations including deletion. However, the flaw allows authenticated users to delete images that are still in the saving state, which can result in the system allocating disk space for the image but then removing it before proper cleanup occurs. This creates a scenario where disk space consumption continues to increase without proper accounting, effectively allowing attackers to bypass storage quota limits that are typically enforced to prevent resource exhaustion attacks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple denial of service conditions, as it can lead to significant resource depletion that affects overall system stability and performance. Attackers can repeatedly perform this operation to consume disk space rapidly, potentially causing cascading failures in cloud environments where storage resources are constrained. The vulnerability particularly affects cloud deployments where multiple users share storage resources and where quota enforcement is critical for maintaining service level agreements and preventing single-user resource exhaustion attacks. This type of attack can be particularly damaging in multi-tenant environments where resource isolation is paramount for security and operational reliability.
Security mitigations for this vulnerability should focus on implementing proper state validation mechanisms within the Glance service to ensure that image deletion operations are properly constrained based on image state transitions. The fix typically involves modifying the image deletion logic to prevent deletion of images in transitional states such as saving, and implementing proper resource accounting that tracks disk usage throughout the entire image lifecycle. Organizations should also consider implementing additional monitoring and alerting mechanisms to detect unusual disk consumption patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-362, which describes concurrent execution use of a resource, and represents a specific instance of inadequate access control that could be addressed through proper input validation and state management. The attack pattern follows ATT&CK technique T1499.001 for resource hijacking, where adversaries consume resources to cause denial of service conditions while evading normal access controls.