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OpendaylightApplication

CVE-2017-1000411

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-01-31
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
OpenFlow Plugin and OpenDayLight Controller versions Nitrogen, Carbon, Boron, Robert Varga, Anil Vishnoi contain a flaw when multiple 'expired' flows take up the memory resource of CONFIG DATASTORE which leads to CONTROLLER shutdown. If multiple different flows with 'idle-timeout' and 'hard-timeout' are sent to the Openflow Plugin REST API, the expired flows will eventually crash the controller once its resource allocations set with the JVM size are exceeded. Although the installed flows (with timeout set) are removed from network (and thus also from controller's operations DS), the expired entries are still present in CONFIG DS. The attack can originate both from NORTH or SOUTH. The above description is for a north bound attack. A south bound attack can originate when an attacker attempts a flow flooding attack and since flows come with timeouts, the attack is not successful. However, the attacker will now be successful in CONTROLLER overflow attack (resource consumption). Although, the network (actual flow tables) and operational DS are only (~)1% occupied, the controller requests for resource consumption. This happens because the installed flows get removed from the network upon timeout.

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 confidence

OpenDayLight OpenFlow Plugin versions Nitrogen through Boron fail to properly clean up expired flow entries from the CONFIG DATASTORE. When flows with idle-timeout or hard-timeout are installed via REST API or southbound, expired flows remain in CONFIG DS while being removed from operational DS and the network, causing unbounded memory consumption that leads to JVM heap exhaustion and controller shutdown.

MitigationImplement proper cleanup/removal of expired flow entries from CONFIG DATASTORE when they timeout, and/or add resource limits on CONFIG DS storage to prevent unbounded memory growth from accumulating expired flow entries.

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
OpendaylightApplication
Affected:= boron= carbon= nitrogen
OpenflowApplication
Affected:= boron= carbon= nitrogen

CVSS 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
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify OpenDaylight controller version
    Run 'opendaylight-version' or check the Karaf distribution folder name (e.g., distribution-karaf-nitrogen, distribution-karaf-carbon, distribution-karaf-boron)
    Affected if Version is nitrogen, carbon, or boron
  2. Confirm OpenFlow plugin is installed
    Check Karaf feature list via 'feature:list | grep openflowplugin' or inspect the 'org.opendaylight.openflowplugin' bundle state in the OSGi console
    Affected if OpenFlow plugin bundle is installed and active
  3. Inspect CONFIG DATASTORE for flow entries
    Use the OpenDaylight DLUX UI or REST API (GET /restconf/operational/opendaylight-inventory:nodes) to query the CONFIG DATASTORE; examine flow tables for any entries with expired timeout values that persist
    Affected if Flow entries with expired idle-timeout or hard-timeout remain in CONFIG DS after being removed from OPERATIONAL DS
  4. Check for memory growth patterns
    Monitor JVM heap usage over time via JMX or 'karaf:threads' command; look for steady heap increase correlating with flow operations
    Affected if Heap grows unbounded without garbage collection relief, especially after deploying flows with timeouts

You are affected if running OpenDaylight Nitrogen, Carbon, or Boron with the OpenFlow plugin enabled and you observe expired flow entries persisting in CONFIG DATASTORE or experiencing unexplained heap growth.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Implement proper cleanup/removal of expired flow entries from CONFIG DATASTORE when they timeout, and/or add resource limits on CONFIG DS storage to prevent unbounded memory growth from accumulating expired flow entries.

Fix this in Opendaylight Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing10.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
32.0 hours of engineering $5,580
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-1000411 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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