Security Bulletin: Mitigations are being announced to address CVE-2020-4839 and CVE-2021-29695

Summary

IBM products 8335-GCA, 8335-GTA, and 8335-GTB have identified security vulnerabilities.

Vulnerability Details

CVEID:CVE-2020-4839
**DESCRIPTION:**IBM Host firmware for LC-class Systems is vulnerable to a stack based buffer overflow, caused by improper bounds checking. A remote privileged attacker could exploit this vulnerability and cause a denial of service.
CVSS Base score: 4.9
CVSS Temporal Score: See: https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/190037 for the current score.
CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)

CVEID:CVE-2021-29695
**DESCRIPTION:**IBM Host firmware for LC-class Systems could allow a remote attacker to traverse directories on the system. An attacker could send a specially-crafted URL request that would allow them to delete arbitrary files on the system.
CVSS Base score: 4.9
CVSS Temporal Score: See: https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/200558 for the current score.
CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N)

Affected Products and Versions

Remediation/Fixes

None

Workarounds and Mitigations

Mitigations for these vulnerabilities:

1. Use strong passwords that are at least 16 characters long with a mixture of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. By using more complex passwords, it makes it more difficult for malicious users to discover valid user credentials.
2. Keep the management network separate from the public network. Keeping the management network separate lessens security exposures by reducing the number of individuals who can access the systems.
3. Use an account which has the minimum authority needed. Consider using an operator session for normal operations and using an admin session only when making administrative changes to the BMC.
4. Limit the duration sessions are logged in. Always log out of sessions when done using them. The default web session time out is 10 minutes, and can be changed from the “Services” web page.
5. Place the BMC’s management network behind a secure Linux box. This may also be known as a jump box or bastion host. Then secure that box with high security, multi-factor authentication, with logging and monitoring BMC logs, available from the BMC’s web interface.