CVE-2018-14636
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 · uneditedLive-migrated instances are briefly able to inspect traffic for other instances on the same hypervisor. This brief window could be extended indefinitely if the instance's port is set administratively down prior to live-migration and kept down after the migration is complete. This is possible due to the Open vSwitch integration bridge being connected to the instance during migration. When connected to the integration bridge, all traffic for instances using the same Open vSwitch instance would potentially be visible to the migrated guest, as the required Open vSwitch VLAN filters are only applied post-migration. Versions of openstack-neutron before 13.0.0.0b2, 12.0.3, 11.0.5 are vulnerable.
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 confidenceDuring live migration in OpenStack Neutron with Open vSwitch, the migrating instance's virtual interface is connected to the integration bridge before VLAN filters are applied. This brief window allows the migrated instance to potentially observe traffic from other instances on the same hypervisor. If the instance's port remains administratively down after migration (which can be intentionally set before migration), this exposure persists indefinitely, as the VLAN filters are never applied to the down port.
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>= 7.0.0, <= 11.0.4>= 12.0.0, <= 12.0.2= 13.0.0CVSS 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
- High
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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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Check Neutron versionRun 'neutron --version' or check the installed neutron package version (e.g., rpm -q neutron, dpkg -l neutron)Affected if Version is 7.0.0-11.0.4, 12.0.0-12.0.2, or 13.0.0 exactly (unpatched)
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Confirm Open vSwitch backendInspect Neutron ML2 configuration: check /etc/neutron/plugins/ml2/ml2_conf.ini for 'mechanism_drivers' setting, or run 'neutron ml2 mechanism-list'Affected if Open vSwitch is listed as a mechanism driver (the vulnerability only applies to OVS)
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Identify ports that remained down after migrationQuery neutron for ports with admin_state_up=false that are in a compute node, or review migration logs to identify instances that completed live migrationAffected if Any instance was migrated while its port was set to admin_state_up=false, leaving that port permanently down post-migration
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Review recent live migration activityCheck nova migration logs or run 'nova migration-list' to identify recent live migrations on the hypervisors running neutron with OVSAffected if Live migrations have been performed on this neutron/OVS deployment
You are affected if neutron version is unpatched (outside 11.0.5, 12.0.3, or 13.0.0.0b2+), Open vSwitch is the mechanism driver, AND live migrations occurred with ports left in administratively down state.
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 dataUpgrade neutron to version 13.0.0.0b2, 12.0.3, or 11.0.5. Additionally, ensure ports are not left administratively down after migration completes, and audit existing instances for this condition.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-14636 — 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-2018-14636 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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