CVE-2026-74250 in Ironic
Summary
by MITRE • 08/15/2026
In OpenStack Ironic before 38.0.1, the autodetect deploy interface may fail to run cleaning immediately after enrollment with, or changing to, the autodetect deploy interface.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/15/2026
OpenStack Ironic represents a critical infrastructure component for bare metal provisioning in cloud environments, and its deployment interfaces play a fundamental role in automating hardware initialization processes. The autodetect deploy interface specifically aims to automatically determine the appropriate deployment method based on hardware characteristics and system configurations. This vulnerability manifests in versions prior to 38.0.1 where the system fails to execute cleaning operations immediately following device enrollment or when transitioning to the autodetect deploy interface, creating a critical operational gap in the provisioning workflow.
The technical flaw stems from an implementation issue within the deployment interface management logic that prevents proper state transitions and cleaning sequence execution. When a node is enrolled or when its deploy interface is changed to autodetect, the system should immediately initiate cleaning procedures to ensure hardware readiness and security compliance. However, due to this vulnerability, these cleaning operations are either delayed or completely skipped, leaving nodes in an inconsistent state where hardware components may not be properly initialized or secured according to established security protocols.
This operational impact creates significant risks for cloud environments relying on Ironic for bare metal provisioning, as it compromises the integrity of the deployment pipeline. Nodes that fail to undergo proper cleaning may contain residual data from previous deployments, have improperly configured hardware settings, or lack necessary security hardening measures. The vulnerability essentially allows for potential information leakage and security boundary violations, particularly in multi-tenant environments where isolation between different deployments is paramount. This issue directly affects the principle of least privilege and can enable unauthorized access to hardware resources through compromised node states.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 Access Control Issues and represents a failure in proper resource initialization and state management within cloud infrastructure components. From an adversarial perspective, this flaw could be leveraged by attackers to exploit the inconsistent node states during deployment transitions, potentially enabling privilege escalation or data exfiltration attacks through compromised hardware interfaces. Organizations implementing Ironic should consider this vulnerability in their security posture assessments, particularly when evaluating their bare metal provisioning workflows and the associated attack surface.
Mitigation strategies should prioritize immediate upgrade to version 38.0.1 or later where this issue has been resolved. Additionally, organizations should implement monitoring solutions that can detect failed cleaning operations or inconsistent node states during enrollment and interface transitions. Security teams should also consider implementing additional validation checks before allowing nodes into production environments, ensuring that proper cleaning procedures have completed successfully. The fix addresses the core state management issue in the deploy interface switching logic and ensures that cleaning operations execute reliably regardless of whether they occur during initial enrollment or subsequent interface changes, thereby restoring the expected security and operational integrity of the provisioning pipeline.
This vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of thorough testing for state transition scenarios in infrastructure automation tools. The failure to properly handle immediate cleaning operations after enrollment or interface changes represents a fundamental flaw in the provisioning workflow that could have far-reaching implications across cloud deployment environments. Organizations should treat this as a high-priority security concern requiring immediate remediation and ongoing monitoring to prevent potential exploitation through hardware-level attacks or privilege escalation attempts.