RHSA-2012:1379

Vulnerability from csaf_redhat - Published: 2012-10-16 17:44 - Updated: 2025-11-21 17:41
Summary
Red Hat Security Advisory: openstack-swift security update

Notes

Topic
Updated openstack-swift packages that fix one security issue are now available for Red Hat OpenStack Essex. The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having important security impact. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available from the CVE link in the References section.
Details
OpenStack Swift (http://swift.openstack.org) is a highly available, distributed, eventually consistent object/blob store. It was found that OpenStack Swift used the Python pickle module in an insecure way to serialize and deserialize data from memcached. As memcached does not have authentication, an attacker on the local network, or possibly an unprivileged user in a virtual machine hosted on OpenStack, could use this flaw to inject specially-crafted data that would lead to arbitrary code execution. (CVE-2012-4406) Red Hat would like to thank Sebastian Krahmer of the SUSE Security Team for reporting this issue. Note: The fix for CVE-2012-4406 is not enabled by default, and requires manual action on the affected Proxy nodes. This update adds a "memcache_serialization_support" option. It is configured in "/etc/swift/proxy-server.conf" and is set to "0" by default. This default setting is vulnerable to CVE-2012-4406. To enable the fix, this option must be changed; however, the required changes can have a temporary, large performance impact. The following instructions aim to minimize performance issues: 1) Install the updated openstack-swift packages. 2) In "/etc/swift/proxy-server.conf", set the "memcache_serialization_support" option in the memcache/[filter:cache] section to "1". (The default value, "0", leaves you vulnerable to CVE-2012-4406.) When set to "1", the JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) format is used but pickle is still supported. This configuration is still vulnerable, but new data will be stored in JSON format. 3) After setting the option to "1", run "service openstack-swift-proxy restart". 4) After 24 hours, set the "memcache_serialization_support" option in "/etc/swift/proxy-server.conf" to "2". "2" is the secure option: only JSON is used. 5) After setting the option to "2", run "service openstack-swift-proxy restart". If "memcache_serialization_support" is set directly from "0" to "2", all data in memcached will be flushed and re-created. This can lead to a temporary, large performance impact. All users of openstack-swift are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which correct this issue.
Terms of Use
This content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). If you distribute this content, or a modified version of it, you must provide attribution to Red Hat Inc. and provide a link to the original.
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        "text": "OpenStack Swift (http://swift.openstack.org) is a highly available,\ndistributed, eventually consistent object/blob store.\n\nIt was found that OpenStack Swift used the Python pickle module in an\ninsecure way to serialize and deserialize data from memcached. As\nmemcached does not have authentication, an attacker on the local network,\nor possibly an unprivileged user in a virtual machine hosted on OpenStack,\ncould use this flaw to inject specially-crafted data that would lead to\narbitrary code execution. (CVE-2012-4406)\n\nRed Hat would like to thank Sebastian Krahmer of the SUSE Security Team for\nreporting this issue.\n\nNote: The fix for CVE-2012-4406 is not enabled by default, and requires\nmanual action on the affected Proxy nodes. This update adds a\n\"memcache_serialization_support\" option. It is configured in\n\"/etc/swift/proxy-server.conf\" and is set to \"0\" by default. This default\nsetting is vulnerable to CVE-2012-4406.\n\nTo enable the fix, this option must be changed; however, the required\nchanges can have a temporary, large performance impact. The following\ninstructions aim to minimize performance issues:\n\n1) Install the updated openstack-swift packages.\n\n2) In \"/etc/swift/proxy-server.conf\", set the\n\"memcache_serialization_support\" option in the memcache/[filter:cache]\nsection to \"1\". (The default value, \"0\", leaves you vulnerable to\nCVE-2012-4406.) When set to \"1\", the JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)\nformat is used but pickle is still supported. This configuration is still\nvulnerable, but new data will be stored in JSON format.\n\n3) After setting the option to \"1\", run \"service openstack-swift-proxy\nrestart\".\n\n4) After 24 hours, set the \"memcache_serialization_support\" option in\n\"/etc/swift/proxy-server.conf\" to \"2\". \"2\" is the secure option: only JSON\nis used.\n\n5) After setting the option to \"2\", run \"service openstack-swift-proxy\nrestart\".\n\nIf \"memcache_serialization_support\" is set directly from \"0\" to \"2\", all\ndata in memcached will be flushed and re-created. This can lead to a\ntemporary, large performance impact.\n\nAll users of openstack-swift are advised to upgrade to these updated\npackages, which correct this issue.",
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      "acknowledgments": [
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          "names": [
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          ],
          "organization": "SUSE Security Team"
        }
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      "cve": "CVE-2012-4406",
      "cwe": {
        "id": "CWE-502",
        "name": "Deserialization of Untrusted Data"
      },
      "discovery_date": "2012-09-05T00:00:00+00:00",
      "ids": [
        {
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          "text": "854757"
        }
      ],
      "notes": [
        {
          "category": "description",
          "text": "OpenStack Object Storage (swift) before 1.7.0 uses the loads function in the pickle Python module unsafely when storing and loading metadata in memcached, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted pickle object.",
          "title": "Vulnerability description"
        },
        {
          "category": "summary",
          "text": "Openstack-Swift: insecure use of python pickle()",
          "title": "Vulnerability summary"
        },
        {
          "category": "general",
          "text": "The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product\u0027s status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.",
          "title": "CVSS score applicability"
        }
      ],
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          "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2012-4406"
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        {
          "category": "vendor_fix",
          "date": "2012-10-16T17:44:00+00:00",
          "details": "Before applying this update, make sure all previously-released errata\nrelevant to your system have been applied.\n\nThis update is available via the Red Hat Network. Details on how to\nuse the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at\nhttps://access.redhat.com/knowledge/articles/11258",
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          "restart_required": {
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      "scores": [
        {
          "cvss_v2": {
            "accessComplexity": "LOW",
            "accessVector": "NETWORK",
            "authentication": "NONE",
            "availabilityImpact": "PARTIAL",
            "baseScore": 7.5,
            "confidentialityImpact": "PARTIAL",
            "integrityImpact": "PARTIAL",
            "vectorString": "AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P",
            "version": "2.0"
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          "details": "Important"
        }
      ],
      "title": "Openstack-Swift: insecure use of python pickle()"
    }
  ]
}


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  • Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
  • Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
  • Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
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