CVE-2022-37394 — nova
LOWCVE-2022-37394 is a low-severity (CVSS 3.3) vulnerability in nova. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for nova — see the affected versions and patch details below.
OpenStack Nova Changing vnic_type breaks compute service restart
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.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2022-37394 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,333 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
nova🐍nova🐍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
An issue was discovered in OpenStack Nova before 23.2.2, 24.x before 24.1.2, and 25.x before 25.0.2. By creating a neutron port with the direct vnic_type, creating an instance bound to that port, and then changing the vnic_type of the bound port to macvtap, an authenticated user may cause the compute service to fail to restart, resulting in a possible denial of service. Only Nova deployments configured with SR-IOV are affected.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | nova | all versions | 23.2.2pip install --upgrade 'nova==23.2.2' |
| 🐍PyPI | nova | ≥ 24.0.0&&< 24.1.2 | 24.1.2pip install --upgrade 'nova==24.1.2' |
| 🐍PyPI | nova | ≥ 25.0.0&&< 25.0.2 | 25.0.2pip install --upgrade 'nova==25.0.2' |
Research 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 23.2.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-37394 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-2022-37394 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2022-37394. 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.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat OpenStack Platform 16.2 | openstack-nova-1:20.6.2-2.20230308185148.fc01371.el8ost | RHSA-2023:1948 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2022-37394 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2022-37394 across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.