CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2018-17204

Reachable Assertion

Published: Sep 19, 2018 | Modified: Aug 04, 2021
CVSS 3.x
4.3
MEDIUM
Source:
NVD
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
CVSS 2.x
4 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:P
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
2.7 MODERATE
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
Ubuntu
MEDIUM

An issue was discovered in Open vSwitch (OvS) 2.7.x through 2.7.6, affecting parse_group_prop_ntr_selection_method in lib/ofp-util.c. When decoding a group mod, it validates the group type and command after the whole group mod has been decoded. The OF1.5 decoder, however, tries to use the type and command earlier, when it might still be invalid. This causes an assertion failure (via OVS_NOT_REACHED). ovs-vswitchd does not enable support for OpenFlow 1.5 by default.

Weakness

The product contains an assert() or similar statement that can be triggered by an attacker, which leads to an application exit or other behavior that is more severe than necessary.

Affected Software

Name Vendor Start Version End Version
Openvswitch Openvswitch 2.7.0 (including) 2.7.6 (including)
Fast Datapath for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 RedHat openvswitch-0:2.9.0-70.el7fdp.1 *
Red Hat OpenStack Platform 10.0 (Newton) RedHat openvswitch-0:2.9.0-83.el7fdp.1 *
Red Hat OpenStack Platform 13.0 (Queens) RedHat openvswitch-0:2.9.0-83.el7fdp.1 *
Red Hat Virtualization 4.2 for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 EUS RedHat openvswitch-0:2.9.0-70.el7fdp.1 *
Red Hat Virtualization 4 for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 RedHat redhat-release-virtualization-host-0:4.2-7.5.el7 *
Red Hat Virtualization 4 for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 RedHat redhat-virtualization-host-0:4.2-20181121.0.el7_6 *
Openvswitch Ubuntu bionic *
Openvswitch Ubuntu xenial *

Extended Description

While assertion is good for catching logic errors and reducing the chances of reaching more serious vulnerability conditions, it can still lead to a denial of service. For example, if a server handles multiple simultaneous connections, and an assert() occurs in one single connection that causes all other connections to be dropped, this is a reachable assertion that leads to a denial of service.

Potential Mitigations

References