OpenStack Nova Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor

published 2019-11-26 6 y ago modified 2026-07-06 4 mo ago also GHSA-vcmv-6rxx-fh7r , PYSEC-2026-691 , EUVD-2022-1837

cvss: 5.9; version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 1.5%; EPSS 1.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 73%
public exploits: 0; none known

OpenStack Nova before 2012.1 allows someone with access to an EC2_ACCESS_KEY (equivalent to a username) to obtain the EC2_SECRET_KEY (equivalent to a password). Exposing the EC2_ACCESS_KEY via http or tools that allow man-in-the-middle over https could allow an attacker to easily obtain the EC2_SECRET_KEY. An attacker could also presumably brute force values for EC2_ACCESS_KEY.

Patch / fix

fixed in 2 distros 1 links 5

pypi nova 12.0.0a0
openstack nova 2012.1

nova Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 2012.1~e1-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2011-4076

github.com/openstack/nova@b1ab6da commit
github.com/openstack/nova@beee11e commit
security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2011-4076 advisory
bugs.launchpad.net/nova/+bug/868360 advisory
openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2011/10/25/4 advisory

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2011-4076 updated 2026-08-09

openstack-nova: EC2 API password leak

Red Hat All currently supported Red Hat products
not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

1.46% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 73% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

bugs.launchpad.net https://bugs.launchpad.net/nova/+bug/868360 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
bugzilla.redhat.com https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2011-4076 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
NVD	3.1	5.9	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
NVD	2.0	4.3	AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N
GitHub	3.1	5.9	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
OSV	3.1	5.9	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Affected packages

ecosystem	package	affected	fixed in
pypi	nova	<12.0.0a0	12.0.0a0

Affected products

nova nova

Classification

Weakness

CWE-200 Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor

References

security-tracker.debian.org /tracker/CVE-2011-4076
web, patch, third-party-advisory
bugs.launchpad.net /nova/+bug/868360
web, exploit, issue-tracking, patch, third-party-advisory
openwall.com /lists/oss-security/2011/10/25/4
web, mailing-list, patch, third-party-advisory
github.com /openstack/nova/commit/b1ab6da1495784ff581000018a6047fd19cf82c4
web
github.com /openstack/nova/commit/beee11edbfdd82cd81bc9c0fd75912c167892c2b
web
bugzilla.redhat.com /show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2011-4076
web, exploit, issue-tracking, third-party-advisory
access.redhat.com /security/cve/cve-2011-4076
web, third-party-advisory
nvd.nist.gov /vuln/detail/CVE-2011-4076
advisory
pypi.org /project/nova
package
github.com /advisories/GHSA-vcmv-6rxx-fh7r
advisory

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

Summary