CVE-2026-24708 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.2) CWE-669 vulnerability in nova. The records list no fixed version yet; check the vendor advisory below and apply the mitigations in the meantime.
OpenStack Nova calls qemu-img without format restrictions for resize
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2026-24708.
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
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 30.2.2, 31 before 31.2.1, and 32 before 32.1.1. By writing a malicious QCOW header to a root or ephemeral disk and then triggering a resize, a user may convince Nova's Flat image backend to call qemu-img without a format restriction, resulting in an unsafe image resize operation that could destroy data on the host system. Only compute nodes using the Flat image backend (usually configured with use_cow_images=False) are affected.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | nova | ≥ 32.0.0.0rc1 | No fix |
| 🐍PyPI | nova | ≥ 31.0.0.0rc1 | No fix |
| 🐍PyPI | nova | all versions | No fix |
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.
Remediation status
The records we use list no patched version of nova for CVE-2026-24708. Check the maintainer's advisory, and where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range.
Mitigate without a patch
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.
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.
This vulnerability is rated Important for Red Hat OpenStack Platform. An authenticated attacker can exploit unconstrained disk format handling in OpenStack Nova when invoking qemu-img. By crafting a QCOW2 header on an ephemeral or root disk, an attacker can cause qemu-img to overwrite arbitrary files on the compute…
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options don't meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.Source: Red Hat security advisory for CVE-2026-24708 (CC BY 4.0)
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat OpenStack Platform 13.0 - ELS | openstack-nova-1:17.0.13-43.el7ost | RHSA-2026:94039 |
| Red Hat OpenStack Platform 16.2 | openstack-nova-1:20.6.2-2.20260317135026.8a24acd.el8ost | RHSA-2026:54757 |
| Red Hat OpenStack Platform 17.1 for RHEL 9 | ansible-collection-ansible-posix-0:1.2.0-1.4.el9ost | RHSA-2026:66401 |
| Red Hat OpenStack Services on OpenShift 18.0 | openstack-nova-1:27.5.2-18.0.20260312122217.c1c6d67.el9ost | RHSA-2026:7884 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-24708 in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.