# CVE-2026-44919: OpenStack Ironic denial of service via infinite checksum loop

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-44919-openstack-ironic-denial-of-service-via-infinite-checksum-loop  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2026-05-14. Updated: 2026-05-20  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-2026-44919 · Severity: medium · CVSS 4.3 · Published 2026-05-14

OpenStack Ironic, a service used to manage and deploy bare-metal servers, is vulnerable to a denial-of-service attack. An authorized user can provide a specially crafted file path (such as a link to an infinite data stream) during the server deployment process, causing the system to hang indefinitely while trying to calculate a checksum. This can exhaust the system's processing capacity, preventing other users from deploying servers and effectively shutting down data center provisioning operations.

Technologies: [OpenStack Ironic](https://junglewise.ai/threats/technologies/ironic), [ironic (PyPI)](https://junglewise.ai/threats/technologies/pypi-ironic). Vendors: [OpenStack](https://junglewise.ai/threats/vendors/openstack), [PyPI](https://junglewise.ai/threats/vendors/pypi).

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2026-44919 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-44919 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2026-44919?** Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 4.3, published 14 May 2026.

**Which products and versions are affected?** OpenStack Ironic <= 36.0.0, >=23.0.4 <29.0.6, >=30.0.0 <32.0.2, >=33.0.0 <35.0.2, through 35.x before a3f6d73; ironic (PyPI) ECOSYSTEM:introduced=0,last_affected=36.0.0.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2026-44919?** A patch was published on 2026-04-30: Fix committed to Ironic repository Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

**How is CVE-2026-44919 attacked?** It is attacked over the network, in a hosted service.

**Am I affected by CVE-2026-44919?** Check whether you run OpenStack Ironic or ironic (PyPI) at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

## Technical details

A logic sequencing error in OpenStack Ironic's image handling code allows for uncontrolled resource consumption. The vulnerability exists because the `_cache_and_convert_image` function in `deploy_utils.py` invokes checksum calculations via `get_checksum_and_algo` before performing file path validation (the blocklist check introduced in OSSA-2025-001). An authenticated attacker with permissions to modify `node.instance_info` can specify a URL such as `file:///dev/zero`. This causes the `compute_file_checksum` function to enter an infinite loop while attempting to hash the stream, permanently stalling a conductor worker thread. Repeated requests can exhaust the thread pool, leading to a full service denial-of-service. Patches have been released across multiple branches (Antelope, Caracal, Epoxy, Flamingo, Gazpacho, Hibiscus) to move validation logic before checksumming.

## Affected products

- OpenStack Ironic >=23.0.4 <29.0.6, >=30.0.0 <32.0.2, >=33.0.0 <35.0.2

## Identifiers

- CVE-2026-44919
- GHSA-4g73-w726-53h3
- PYSEC-2026-2524

## Timeline

- 2026-04-25: disclosed: Bug reported to OpenStack Launchpad
- 2026-04-30: patched: Fix committed to Ironic repository
- 2026-05-14: advisory: CVE published to NVD
- 2026-05-19: advisory: OpenStack Security Advisory OSSA-2026-013 released

## References

- [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ironic/+bug/2150332](https://bugs.launchpad.net/ironic/+bug/2150332)
- [https://opendev.org/openstack/ironic/commit/a3f6d735ac3642ab95b49142c7305f072ae748d0](https://opendev.org/openstack/ironic/commit/a3f6d735ac3642ab95b49142c7305f072ae748d0)
- [https://security.openstack.org/ossa/OSSA-2026-013.html](https://security.openstack.org/ossa/OSSA-2026-013.html)

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