CVE-2013-6437 — nova
Fix: openstack/nova@3e451f1CVE-2013-6437 is a CWE-399 vulnerability in nova. A fix is available for nova — see the affected versions and patch details below.
OpenStack Nova DoS through ephemeral disk backing files
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
The libvirt driver in OpenStack Compute (Nova) before 2013.2.2 and icehouse before icehouse-2 allows remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (disk consumption) by creating and deleting instances with unique os_type settings, which triggers the creation of a new ephemeral disk backing file.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | nova | all versions | 12.0.0a0pip install --upgrade 'nova==12.0.0a0' |
Affected Products
novaopenstackDetection & 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-2013-6437 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.
Red Hat Product Security has rated this issue as having moderate security impact in Red Hat OpenStack Platform 3.0. This issue is not currently planned to be addressed in future updates. For additional information, refer to the Issue Severity Classification: https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| OpenStack 4 for RHEL 6 | openstack-nova-0:2013.2.2-2.el6ost | RHSA-2014:0231 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2013-6437 in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.