IBM Support

Security Bulletin: Privilege Escalation / User Impersonation affects IBM Platform LSF and IBM Spectrum LSF

Security Bulletin


Summary

This is to address security vulnerabilities in IBM Spectrum LSF and IBM Platform LSF (Load Sharing Facility) that could allow a local attacker to impersonate arbitrary users to submit jobs to LSF, and possibly run LSF jobs as root.

LSF uses an external authentication framework to secure user credentials for the data stream between LSF clients and servers. By default, LSF provides an eauth executable file which takes a static authorization key to encrypt the data. As part of the installation process, changing the default key is important to prevent unauthorized access. However, many sites do not change this default key and are therefore vulnerable to CVE-2017-1205.

This issue was present and undetected for over ten years, even during previous third party security reviews. There are no reported instances of anyone having exploited this defect to gain root privileges.

This fix addresses CVE-2017-1205 by enhancing the default eauth executable file to automatically generate site-specific keys, and is available for all supported versions of LSF on all supported operating systems.

Sites that use LSF Kerberos authentication are not affected by this issue, but installing this fix addresses potential vulnerabilities if LSF Kerberos authentication is unavailable.

Vulnerability Details

CVEID: CVE-2017-1205
DESCRIPTION: IBM Platform LSF contains an unspecified vulnerability that could allow a local user to escalate their privileges and obtain root access.
CVSS Base Score: 9.3

CVSS Temporal Score: See https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/123741 for the current score

CVSS Environmental Score*: Undefined

CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H)

Affected Products and Versions

IBM Spectrum LSF 8.3, 9.1.1, 9.1.2, 9.1.3, 10.1, 10.1.0.1

Remediation/Fixes

<Product

VRMFAPARRemediation/First Fix
IBM Platform LSF8.3P102111445650
IBM Platform LSF9.1.1P102106445784
IBM Platform LSF9.1.2P102109445808
IBM Platform LSF9.1.3P102108445809
IBM Spectrum LSF10.1, 10.1.0.1P102110443727
1. For different versions different fix are provided. Download fix from below location:

IBM Platform LSF 8.3
Fix Central URL
http://www-933.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/swg/selectFixes?parent=Platform%2BComputing&product=ibm/Other+software/Platform+LSF&release=All&platform=All&function=fixId&fixids=lsf-8.3-build445650&includeSupersedes=0

Fix ID: lsf-8.3-build445650
IBM Platform LSF 9.1.1
http://www-933.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/swg/selectFixes?parent=Platform%2BComputing&product=ibm/Other+software/Platform+LSF&release=All&platform=All&function=fixId&fixids=lsf-9.1.1-build445784&includeSupersedes=0

Fix ID: lsf-9.1.1-build445784

IBM Platform LSF 9.1.2
Fix Central URL
http://www-933.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/swg/selectFixes?parent=Platform%2BComputing&product=ibm/Other+software/Platform+LSF&release=All&platform=All&function=fixId&fixids=lsf-9.1.2-build445808&includeSupersedes=0

Fix ID: lsf-9.1.2-build445808

IBM Platform LSF 9.1.3
Fix Central URL
http://www-933.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/swg/selectFixes?parent=Platform%2BComputing&product=ibm/Other+software/Platform+LSF&release=All&platform=All&function=fixId&fixids=lsf-9.1.3-build445809&includeSupersedes=0

Fix ID: lsf-9.1.3-build445809

IBM Spectrum LSF 10.1, 10.1.0.1
Fix Central URL
http://www-933.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/swg/selectFixes?parent=Platform%2BComputing&product=ibm/Other+software/IBM+Spectrum+LSF&release=All&platform=All&function=fixId&fixids=lsf-10.1-build443727&includeSupersedes=0

Fix ID: lsf-10.1-build443727

2. Installation
Please refer README file for installation steps.

Workarounds and Mitigations

Use LSF Kerberos authentication.

Get Notified about Future Security Bulletins

References

Off

Acknowledgement

The vulnerability was reported to IBM by John Fitzpatrick of MWR InfoSecurity

Change History

<6 Apr 2017>: Original version published
<7 Apr 2017>: Add Acknowledgement section
<7 Apr 2017>: Update Summary, Remediation/Fixes and Workarounds and Mitigations

*The CVSS Environment Score is customer environment specific and will ultimately impact the Overall CVSS Score. Customers can evaluate the impact of this vulnerability in their environments by accessing the links in the Reference section of this Security Bulletin.

Disclaimer

Review the IBM security bulletin disclaimer and definitions regarding your responsibilities for assessing potential impact of security vulnerabilities to your environment.

[{"Product":{"code":"SSWRJV","label":"IBM Spectrum LSF"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU059","label":"IBM Software w\/o TPS"},"Component":"Not Applicable","Platform":[{"code":"PF025","label":"Platform Independent"}],"Version":"10.1","Edition":"Advanced;Enterprise;Standard","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB10","label":"Data and AI"}}]

Document Information

Modified date:
17 June 2018

UID

isg3T1025091