Security Bulletin: InstallAnywhere generates installation executables which are vulnerable to a DLL-planting vulnerability (CVE-2016-4560)

Summary

Flexera InstallAnywhere, shipped and used by IBM Spectrum Control and Tivoli Storage Productivity Center, could allow a local attacker to gain elevated privileges on the system by using a Trojan horse DLL in the current working directory of a setup-launcher.

Vulnerability Details

CVEID: CVE-2016-4560**
DESCRIPTION:** Flexera InstallAnywhere could allow a local attacker to gain elevated privileges on the system, caused by an untrusted search path. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability using a Trojan horse DLL in the current working directory of a setup-launcher executable file to gain elevated privileges on the system.
CVSS Base Score: 7.8
CVSS Temporal Score: See https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/113016 for the current score
CVSS Environmental Score*: Undefined
CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)

Affected Products and Versions

IBM Spectrum Control 5.2.8 through 5.2.9 (Windows)
Tivoli Storage Productivity Center 5.2.0 through 5.2.7 (Windows)
Tivoli Storage Productivity Center 5.1.0 through 5.1.1.9 (Windows)
Tivoli Storage Productivity Center 4.2.x (Windows)
Tivoli Storage Productivity Center 4.1.x (Windows)
TotalStorage Productivity Center 3.3.x (Windows)

The versions listed above apply to all licensed offerings of IBM Spectrum Control and Tivoli Storage Productivity Center, including IBM SmartCloud Virtual Storage Center Storage Analytics Engine.

AIX and Linux versions of the products are not affected.

Remediation/Fixes

The solution is to install or upgrade on Microsoft Windows using a fixed IBM Spectrum Control or Tivoli Storage Productivity Center release for each named product. _ Starting with 5.2.8, Tivoli Storage Productivity Center has been renamed to IBM Spectrum Control._

Note: It is always recommended to have a current backup before applying any update procedure.

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Tivoli Storage Productivity Center V4.2.x, 4.1.x and TotalStorage Productivity Center 3.3.x
For these unsupported releases, IBM recommends upgrading to a fixed, supported release of the product.

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Workarounds and Mitigations

To install a previous, vulnerable version of IBM Spectrum Control or Tivoli Storage Productivity Center, follow these steps to work around the vulnerability.

1. As an administrator, create a new secure directory. The directory must not exist before and only the administrator should have write permission to it. The directory must not be a subdirectory of the Downloads directory either.
2. Unzip or copy the files from your installation media into this new directory.
3. Ensure there are no DLL files in this directory.
4. Run setup.batfrom this directory to install the product. Proceed with the installation as normal.