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CVE Record

CVE-2018-20170: OpenStack Keystone through 14.0.1 has a user enumeration vulnerability because invalid usernames have much...

OpenStack Keystone through 14.0.1 has a user enumeration vulnerability because invalid usernames have much faster responses than valid ones for a POST /v3/auth/tokens request. NOTE: the vendor's position is that this is a hardening opportunity, and not necessarily an issue that should have an OpenStack Security Advisory

UnknownCVSS not scoredNot KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysismoderate

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

CVE-2018-20170 describes a timing side channel in OpenStack Keystone. Login token requests for invalid usernames reportedly return much faster than requests for valid usernames, which can help an attacker identify real accounts. The vendor characterized it as hardening rather than necessarily warranting an OpenStack Security Advisory.

Executive priority

Treat this as a moderate identity-security hardening issue. It is unlikely to be an emergency by itself, but it can lower the cost of password spraying or targeted account attacks against OpenStack environments.

Technical view

OpenStack Keystone through 14.0.1 may disclose username validity through response-time differences on POST /v3/auth/tokens. The record provides no CVSS score, CWE, confirmed exploit activity, or vendor patch details. Treat this as an account discovery weakness that can support later credential attacks rather than direct system compromise.

Likely exposure

Organizations running OpenStack Keystone through 14.0.1 are potentially exposed, especially where the Keystone authentication API is reachable from untrusted networks. The provided affected-product metadata is incomplete, so confirm exposure through local asset inventory and vendor package records.

Exploitation context

The source material supports a user enumeration scenario based on timing behavior. It does not support claims of active exploitation, public weaponized exploit availability, privilege escalation, data theft, or remote code execution. KEV status is false in the provided bundle.

Researcher notes

The evidence is narrow: timing differences in Keystone authentication responses and a vendor note framing the issue as hardening. The bundle lacks patch, configuration, and CVSS details, so avoid over-scoping beyond Keystone through 14.0.1 and the token-auth timing side channel.

Mitigation direction

  • Check OpenStack Keystone and downstream distribution guidance for vendor-recognized fixes or hardening.
  • Inventory Keystone deployments and prioritize unsupported versions for upgrade review.
  • Restrict unnecessary external access to Keystone authentication endpoints.
  • Use existing authentication monitoring and throttling controls where available.
  • Document compensating controls if immediate version changes are not feasible.

Validation and detection

  • Identify whether Keystone versions through 14.0.1 exist in your environment.
  • Confirm whether POST /v3/auth/tokens is reachable from untrusted networks.
  • Review authentication logs for unusual failed-login enumeration patterns.
  • Check vendor or distribution advisories before approving remediation actions.
  • Validate timing behavior only in authorized, controlled testing environments.
Prepared
Confidence
medium
Sources
3

Public sources used

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
Unknown
CVSS
Not scored
Known Exploited
No
Published
Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.

0CVSS vectors
0Timeline events
0ADP providers
2Source links

CVSS and timeline data

No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
n/an/an/aListed
Weakness

CWE details

No CWE listed

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