Security Bulletin: IBM PureApplication System is affected by a vulnerability (CVE-2018-3639) pertaining third-party CPU hardware

Summary

IBM has released Version 2.2.5.3 for IBM PureApplication System, which includes IBM OS image for AIX Systems and IBM OS images for Red Hat Linux Systems based deployments, to address a vulnerability in response to CVE-2018-3639. IBM PureApplication System has addressed the following vulnerability.

Vulnerability Details

CVEID: CVE-2018-3639
**DESCRIPTION:*Multiple Intel CPU’s could allow a local attacker to obtain sensitive information, caused by utilizing sequences of speculative execution and speculative execution of memory reads before the addresses of all prior memory writes are known. By conducting targeted cache side-channel attacks, an attacker could exploit this vulnerability to bypass security restrictions and gain read access to privileged memory. Note: This vulnerability is the Speculative Store Bypass (SSB), also known as Variant 4 or “SpectreNG”.
CVSS Base Score: 4.3
CVSS Temporal Score: See https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/143569 for the current score
CVSS Environmental Score: Undefined
CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N)

Affected Products and Versions

IBM PureApplication System V2.2.3.0
IBM PureApplication System V2.2.3.1
IBM PureApplication System V2.2.3.2
IBM PureApplication System V2.2.4.0
IBM PureApplication System V2.2.5.0
IBM PureApplication System V2.2.5.1
IBM PureApplication System V2.2.5.2

Remediation/Fixes

The PureSystems® Manager on IBM PureApplication System is affected.

AIX:

• Follow the steps from this bulletin to apply the AIX fix updates:

<http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg3T1027700&gt;

OR

• Upgrade IBM PureApplication System to the following fix pack release:

IBM PureApplication V2.2.5.3

Linux:

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux fix updates, upgrade IBM PureApplication System to the following fix pack release:
IBM PureApplication V2.2.5.3

Contact IBM for assistance.

Information on upgrading can be found here: <http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27039159&gt;

Workarounds and Mitigations

None