CVE-2017-16818 in Ceph
Summary
by MITRE
RADOS Gateway in Ceph 12.1.0 through 12.2.1 allows remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (assertion failure and application exit) by leveraging "full" (not necessarily admin) privileges to post an invalid profile to the admin API, related to rgw/rgw_iam_policy.cc, rgw/rgw_basic_types.h, and rgw/rgw_iam_types.h.
If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/18/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-16818 affects the RADOS Gateway component within the Ceph storage system, specifically impacting versions 12.1.0 through 12.2.1. This issue represents a significant security flaw that enables remote authenticated attackers to execute denial of service attacks against the system. The vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation within the administrative API endpoints, particularly concerning IAM (Identity and Access Management) policy handling. Attackers with "full" privileges, which do not necessarily require administrative-level access, can exploit this weakness by submitting malformed profile data to the admin API, leading to critical system failures.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability lies within the rgw/rgw_iam_policy.cc, rgw/rgw_basic_types.h, and rgw/rgw_iam_types.h files of the Ceph codebase. These components handle the processing and validation of IAM policies and user profiles within the RADOS Gateway service. The flaw manifests as an assertion failure that occurs when the system encounters invalid profile data submitted through the administrative interface. This assertion failure ultimately results in the application terminating unexpectedly, causing a complete denial of service for legitimate users who depend on the storage system's functionality. The vulnerability specifically targets the validation logic that processes user profiles and IAM policies, where improper handling of malformed input leads to system crashes.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents a severe risk to organizations relying on Ceph storage clusters, as it allows attackers to disrupt critical storage services without requiring privileged administrative access. The attack vector requires only authenticated access with "full" privileges, which many legitimate users may possess within enterprise environments. The consequences include complete service interruption, data unavailability, and potential business disruption for organizations depending on the affected storage infrastructure. The impact extends beyond simple service interruption, as the application exit can lead to data consistency issues and may require manual intervention to restore system functionality. This vulnerability directly relates to CWE-617, which addresses reachable assertions, and represents a classic example of how improper input validation can lead to denial of service conditions.
The mitigation strategies for CVE-2017-16818 primarily involve upgrading to patched versions of the Ceph storage system, specifically versions beyond 12.2.1 where the vulnerability has been addressed. Organizations should also implement strict access controls to limit the number of users with "full" privileges, as this reduces the attack surface for exploitation. Network segmentation and monitoring of administrative API endpoints can help detect anomalous activity that might indicate attempted exploitation. Security teams should also consider implementing automated alerting for assertion failures and system crashes within the RADOS Gateway service. Additionally, organizations may want to review and harden their IAM policy configurations to minimize the impact of any potential exploitation attempts, while adhering to the principle of least privilege to limit the scope of potential damage. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of robust input validation and proper error handling in security-critical systems, aligning with ATT&CK technique T1499.004 for network denial of service attacks.