CVE-2016-0780 in Cloud Foundry Elastic Runtime
Summary
by MITRE
It was discovered that cf-release v231 and lower, Pivotal Cloud Foundry Elastic Runtime 1.5.x versions prior to 1.5.17 and Pivotal Cloud Foundry Elastic Runtime 1.6.x versions prior to 1.6.18 do not properly enforce disk quotas in certain cases. An attacker could use an improper disk quota value to bypass enforcement and consume all the disk on DEAs/CELLs causing a potential denial of service for other applications.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/03/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-0780 represents a critical flaw in Pivotal Cloud Foundry's resource management system that specifically targets disk quota enforcement mechanisms. This weakness affects multiple versions of the Cloud Foundry Elastic Runtime platform, including cf-release versions up to v231 and specific patch levels of the 1.5.x and 1.6.x series. The issue stems from improper validation of disk quota values within the platform's deployment execution environment, creating a scenario where malicious actors can manipulate resource limits to gain unauthorized access to system resources. This vulnerability directly impacts the fundamental security model of Cloud Foundry's containerized application platform, where proper resource isolation is essential for maintaining system stability and preventing resource exhaustion attacks.
The technical flaw manifests in the way the platform handles disk quota validation during application deployment processes on DEA (Droplet Execution Agent) and CELL components. When an application is deployed with an improperly configured disk quota value, the system fails to properly validate whether the specified quota is within acceptable bounds or if it represents a malicious attempt to bypass resource controls. This validation failure allows attackers to submit applications with extremely high or invalid disk quota values that are not properly enforced by the system's resource management layer. The underlying mechanism operates through the platform's internal resource allocation and monitoring systems, where quota enforcement is supposed to prevent any single application from consuming excessive disk space. The flaw essentially creates a bypass path in the platform's security controls, enabling unauthorized consumption of system resources without proper oversight.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple resource consumption issues to create significant denial of service risks for entire Cloud Foundry deployments. When attackers successfully bypass disk quota enforcement, they can consume all available disk space on DEA/CELL nodes, effectively rendering those system components unusable for legitimate applications. This scenario creates cascading failures that can impact multiple applications running on the same infrastructure, potentially causing widespread service disruption across the platform. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it operates at the infrastructure level, affecting the core resource management capabilities that Cloud Foundry relies upon for maintaining system stability and application isolation. The potential for this attack to cause system-wide outages makes it a critical concern for organizations relying on Cloud Foundry for their application hosting and deployment needs.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigations including applying the relevant patches released by Pivotal for versions 1.5.17 and 1.6.18 of the Elastic Runtime. The recommended approach involves upgrading to patched versions that properly enforce disk quota validation and implement stronger input validation for resource allocation parameters. Network segmentation and monitoring should be enhanced to detect unusual disk usage patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. System administrators should also implement additional checks to validate disk quota values before application deployment and establish alerting mechanisms for when disk space consumption exceeds normal thresholds. From a compliance perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-200 (Information Exposure) and CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within a Memory Buffer) categories, and represents a significant weakness in the platform's defense-in-depth strategy. The attack pattern associated with this vulnerability maps to ATT&CK technique T1499.001 (Network Denial of Service) and T1070.004 (File Deletion) within the adversary tactics and techniques framework, emphasizing the need for comprehensive security controls that address both resource exhaustion and unauthorized file system manipulation.