# CVE-2017-14970: Denial of service in n/a

> Malformed OpenFlow messages cause memory leaks in Open vSwitch, potentially leading to denial of service, though exploitation requires controller access.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.9 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 1 Oct 2017
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2017-14970, GHSA-jjh9-mpf5-64ww, SUSE-SU-2017:3232-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2017-14970

## What is CVE-2017-14970?

CVE-2017-14970 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 1 Oct 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In lib/ofp-util.c in Open vSwitch (OvS) before 2.8.1, there are multiple memory leaks while parsing malformed OpenFlow group mod messages. NOTE: the vendor disputes the relevance of this report, stating "it can only be triggered by an OpenFlow controller, but OpenFlow controllers have much more direct and powerful ways to force Open vSwitch to allocate memory, such as by inserting flows into the flow table."

Weakness: CWE-772 (Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-14970?

It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `openvswitch` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3 | All versions | 2.7.0-3.10.1 |
| `openvswitch` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP3 | All versions | 2.7.0-3.10.1 |

Products: Openvswitch Openvswitch.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-14970?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2017-14970 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-14970 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2017-9264](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-9264/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-9265](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-9265/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2016-2074](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-2074/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2016-10377](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-10377/): Integer overflow in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2024-22563](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-22563/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-14970 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-14970 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 1 Oct 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-14970 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

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-2017-14970/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-14970/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-14970
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-14970
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-14970

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-14970/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.