CVE-2020-1702 in containers-image
Summary
by MITRE • 05/28/2021
A malicious container image can consume an unbounded amount of memory when being pulled to a container runtime host, such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux using podman, or OpenShift Container Platform. An attacker can use this flaw to trick a user, with privileges to pull container images, into crashing the process responsible for pulling the image. This flaw affects containers-image versions before 5.2.0.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/15/2024
This vulnerability represents a critical memory exhaustion flaw in container image handling systems that can lead to denial of service conditions. The issue specifically impacts container runtimes that process image pulls, where a maliciously crafted container image can cause unlimited memory consumption during the pulling process. This affects systems running containers-image versions prior to 5.2.0, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux deployments using podman and OpenShift Container Platform environments. The vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and memory management during the image pulling operation, allowing an attacker to craft images that trigger excessive memory allocation patterns.
The technical execution of this vulnerability involves exploiting the container image pulling mechanism to cause unbounded memory growth. When a container runtime processes a malicious image, the pulling process consumes memory without proper limits or bounds checks, leading to memory exhaustion that can crash the container runtime process. This behavior aligns with CWE-400, which addresses unrestricted resource consumption, and represents a classic denial of service vector through resource exhaustion. The flaw demonstrates poor input validation and resource management practices within the container image processing pipeline, where the system fails to implement adequate memory constraints during image acquisition operations.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption to potentially compromise entire container host systems. Attackers with privileges to pull container images can leverage this flaw to crash container runtime processes, effectively preventing legitimate image pulls and potentially causing cascading failures in containerized applications. This vulnerability particularly affects environments where automated image pulling or user-initiated pulls occur frequently, as the memory exhaustion can occur repeatedly and systematically. The attack surface includes any system running affected container-image versions, making it a widespread concern for organizations relying on containerized infrastructure. The flaw can be exploited through social engineering tactics to convince users with appropriate privileges to pull malicious images, creating a practical attack vector that doesn't require direct system compromise.
Mitigation strategies should focus on immediate version updates to containers-image 5.2.0 or later, which contain the necessary memory management fixes and input validation improvements. Organizations should implement container image scanning and validation processes to identify potentially malicious images before they are pulled into the system. Network segmentation and privilege controls should be enforced to limit which users or systems can initiate image pulling operations. Additionally, runtime monitoring should be implemented to detect unusual memory consumption patterns during image pulling operations, providing early warning of potential exploitation attempts. The remediation aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.001 for resource exhaustion and should be considered alongside broader container security hardening measures. System administrators should also consider implementing memory limits and quotas for container runtime processes to provide additional defense in depth against similar memory exhaustion attacks.