CVE-2013-4185 — nova
Fix: openstack/nova@52ad911CVE-2013-4185 is a CWE-310 vulnerability in nova. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for nova — see the affected versions and patch details below.
OpenStack Nova Denial of Service in network source security groups
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
Real-World Exposure
novaReal-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
Algorithmic complexity vulnerability in OpenStack Compute (Nova) before 2013.1.3 and Havana before havana-3 does not properly handle network source security group policy updates, which allows remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (nova-network consumption) via a large number of server-creation operations, which triggers a large number of update requests.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | nova | all versions | 12.0.0a0pip install --upgrade 'nova==12.0.0a0' |
Affected Products
computeopenstackopenstackredhatResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for nova, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update nova to 12.0.0a0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2013-4185 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.
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.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| OpenStack 3 for RHEL 6 | openstack-nova-0:2013.1.3-3.el6ost | RHSA-2013:1199 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2013-4185 in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.