CVE-2020-15114 — etcd
HIGHCVE-2020-15114 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.7) Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in go.etcd.io/etcd. A fix is available for go.etcd.io/etcd — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Etcd Gateway can include itself as an endpoint resulting in resource exhaustion
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
go.etcd.io/etcd🐹go.etcd.io/etcdReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Vulnerability type
Denial of Service
Detail
The etcd gateway is a simple TCP proxy to allow for basic service discovery and access. However, it is possible to include the gateway address as an endpoint. This results in a denial of service, since the endpoint can become stuck in a loop of requesting itself until there are no more available file descriptors to accept connections on the gateway.
References
Find out more on this vulnerability in the security audit report
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Contact the etcd security committee
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | go.etcd.io/etcd | ≥ 3.4.0-rc.0&&< 3.4.10 | 3.4.10go get go.etcd.io/etcd@v3.4.10 |
| 🐹Go | go.etcd.io/etcd | all versions | 3.3.23go get go.etcd.io/etcd@v3.3.23 |
Affected Products
fedorafedoraprojectetcdredhatDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for go.etcd.io/etcd, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update go.etcd.io/etcd to 3.4.10 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-15114 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.
In the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform (RHOCP), the vulnerable ectd is used in the ose-etcd-container. The etcd gateway uses version 2 API which is not used by OCP, hence the impact of this vulnerability is Low. In Red Hat OpenStack Platform (RHOSP) does not use the etcd gateway and as well its use is limited to…
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.8 | openshift4/ose-etcd:v4.8.0-202106152230.p0.git.aefa6bf.assembly.stream | RHSA-2021:2438 |
| Red Hat OpenStack Platform 16.1 | etcd-0:3.3.23-1.el8ost | RHSA-2021:0916 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-15114 in your dependencies?
Find it across Go, including transitive dependencies.