# CVE-2013-4463: OpenStack Nova denial of service through compressed disk images

> Local users can cause host disk exhaustion via compressed QCOW2 images in OpenStack Compute, requiring patches to prevent denial of service.

- **Severity:** Low 2.1 (`AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 6 Feb 2014
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2013-4463, GHSA-5644-2v3h-5w4x, PYSEC-2026-865

## What is CVE-2013-4463?

CVE-2013-4463 is a low-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 6 Feb 2014. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

OpenStack Compute (Nova) Folsom, Grizzly, and Havana does not properly verify the virtual size of a QCOW2 image, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (host file system disk consumption) via a compressed QCOW2 image.  NOTE: this issue is due to an incomplete fix for CVE-2013-2096.

Weakness: CWE-399

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2013-4463?

3 open source packages ship an affected version, including nova. It affects 3 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `nova` | PyPI | All versions | 12.0.0a0 |
| `nova` | PyPI | All versions | 12.0.0a0 |
| `nova` | PyPI | All versions | 12.0.0a0 |

Products: Openstack Folsom, Openstack Grizzly, Openstack Havana.

## How do I fix CVE-2013-4463?

Upgrade nova to 12.0.0a0 or later.

## Is CVE-2013-4463 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2013-4463 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2013-2161](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2161/): OpenStack Swift Unchecked user input in XML responses (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2013-4497](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-4497/): OpenStack Compute Nova Improper Access Control (medium 6.4)
- [CVE-2013-1665](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-1665/): XML External Entity (XXE) in Django (medium 5.0)
- [CVE-2012-3447](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-3447/): Arbitrary file overwrite in OpenStack Nova (medium 4.9)
- [CVE-2012-5625](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-5625/): OpenStack Nova Information leak in libvirt LVM-backed instances (medium 4.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2013-4463 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2013-4463 is a low-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 6 Feb 2014. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2013-4463 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- nova (PyPI): affected all versions; fixed in 12.0.0a0
- nova (PyPI): affected all versions; fixed in 12.0.0a0
- nova (PyPI): affected all versions; fixed in 12.0.0a0

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-4463/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-4463/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2013-4463
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2013-4463
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2013-4463

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-4463/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.