Security Bulletin: IBM Virtualization Engine TS7700 is susceptible to a denial of service due to the use of OpenSSL (CVE-2023-6129)

Summary

IBM Virtualization Engine TS7700 is susceptible to a denial of service due to the use of OpenSSL (CVE-2023-6129). OpenSSL is used in TS7700 to encrypt data in flight during EKM communications, Secure Data Transfer between clusters, and for TS7700 Advanced Object Store for DS8000.

Vulnerability Details

CVEID:CVE-2023-6129
**DESCRIPTION:**OpenSSL is vulnerable to a denial of service, caused by a flaw in the POLY1305 MAC (message authentication code) implementation. By sending a specially crafted request, a remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to cause a denial of service condition.
CVSS Base score: 5.9
CVSS Temporal Score: See: https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/278934 for the current score.
CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)

Affected Products and Versions

All versions of microcode for the IBM Virtualization Engine TS7700 (3957-VED, and 3948-VED) prior to and including the following are affected:

Note: End of Development (EoD) support was announced for 3957-VEC, effective 31 December 2023, after which time no more code fixes will be provided. Please see <https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/announcements/2023-hardware-maintenance-services-withdrawal&gt; for more information.

Remediation/Fixes

IBM strongly recommends addressing the vulnerability now by visiting <https://tape.ibmrcl.enterpriseappointments.com/v2/&gt; or contacting IBM Service at 1-800-IBM-SERV to arrange an upgrade to the latest microcode version followed by the installation of the appropriate VTD_EXEC as needed. Minimum microcode versions are shown below:

The minimum VTD_EXEC version is shown below:

Important note regarding VTD_EXEC.279 v1.18 vs v1.17: The later version contains support for an additional code level. There is no need to install v1.18 over v1.17 as there are no functional differences.

Workarounds and Mitigations

Although IBM recommends that you upgrade to the fixes identified above, you can mitigate, but not eliminate the risk of these vulnerabilities by restricting physical and network access to the TS7700 to authorized users and IBM Service Personnel only.