CVE-2013-2161 — swift
CVE-2013-2161 is a Code Injection vulnerability in swift. A fix is available for swift — see the affected versions and patch details below.
OpenStack Swift Unchecked user input in XML responses
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
Real-World Exposure
swiftReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
XML injection vulnerability in account/utils.py in OpenStack Swift Folsom, Grizzly, and Havana allows attackers to trigger invalid or spoofed Swift responses via an account name.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | swift | all versions | 1.9.0pip install --upgrade 'swift==1.9.0' |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for swift, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update swift to 1.9.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2013-2161 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2013-2161 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2013-2161. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this issue as having moderate security impact in OpenStack Essex (1.0) and Openstack Folsom (2.1). A future update may address this issue. For additional information, refer to the Issue Severity Classification: https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| OpenStack 3 for RHEL 6 | openstack-swift-0:1.8.0-6.el6ost | RHSA-2013:0993 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2013-2161 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2013-2161 across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.