CVE-2013-4469 — nova
Fix: openstack/nova@135faa7CVE-2013-4469 is a CWE-399 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 Compute (Nova) Denial of service due to improper validation of virtual size of QCOW2 image
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
OpenStack Compute (Nova) Folsom, Grizzly, and Havana, when use_cow_images is set to False, does not verify the virtual size of a QCOW2 image, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (host file system disk consumption) by transferring an image with a large virtual size that does not contain a large amount of data from Glance. NOTE: this issue is due to an incomplete fix for CVE-2013-2096.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | nova | all versions | 12.0.0a0pip install --upgrade 'nova==12.0.0a0' |
Affected Products
folsomopenstackgrizzlyopenstackhavanaopenstackResearch 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-2013-4469 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2013-4469 in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.