CVE-2014-8750
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedRace condition in the VMware driver in OpenStack Compute (Nova) before 2014.1.4 and 2014.2 before 2014.2rc1 allows remote authenticated users to access unintended consoles by spawning an instance that triggers the same VNC port to be allocated to two different instances.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceA race condition in the VMware driver VNC port allocation in OpenStack Compute (Nova) allows remote authenticated users to access unintended console sessions. When spawning instances in rapid succession, the same VNC port can be allocated to two different instances simultaneously, potentially exposing one user's console to another.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data>= 2014.1, < 2014.1.4= 2014.2CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- Single
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:P
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed Nova versionRun 'nova-manage version' or check the Nova package version (e.g., 'rpm -q python-nova' or 'dpkg -l python-nova')Affected if The installed version is 2014.1.x where x is less than 4, or exactly 2014.2
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Verify VMware driver is in useCheck Nova configuration file (usually /etc/nova/nova.conf) for 'compute_driver' setting. Look for values containing 'vmwareapi' or 'VMwareDriver'Affected if The compute_driver is set to a VMware driver (vmwareapi or similar)
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Confirm VNC console is enabledCheck nova.conf for 'vnc_enabled=True' and 'enabled=True' under [vnc] section, or check for 'novncproxy' or 'vncproxy' service runningAffected if VNC console access is enabled for instances
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Check if multiple instances can be spawned rapidlyObserve or test rapid instance spawning (boot multiple VMs in quick succession) and verify if VNC ports are unique for each instance using 'nova get-vnc-console <instance_id>' for each instanceAffected if Two different instances receive the same VNC port number, indicating the race condition is present
You are affected if your Nova version falls within 2014.1 to 2014.1.3 or is exactly 2014.2, AND you use the VMware driver with VNC console enabled, making rapid instance spawning a potential risk for console cross-access.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor data2014.1.4
Upgrade Nova to version 2014.1.4 or later / 2014.2 or later to obtain the patched VMware driver with proper VNC port allocation locking.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2014-8750 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2014-8750 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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