IBM Support

IBM Aspera Instructions for Security Bulletin: Buffer Overflow Vulnerability Affecting Certain Aspera Applications

How To


Summary

This article provides instructions for installing and testing a required security patch. The patch fixes a buffer overflow vulnerability that affects certain Aspera applications.

NOTE: The following instructions only apply to installations that were made prior to April 13, 2020. Downloads provided thereafter have the security vulnerability remediated and do not require the patch.

Objective

Secure various Aspera applications from a security threat.
It is MANDATORY to review the security bulletin for details including a description of the vulnerability, affected products and versions, and remediation steps.  Please see:  https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6131703.

Steps

Install Patch for Aspera High Speed Transfer Server, Aspera High Speed Transfer Endpoint, and Aspera Streaming
Linux, PowerLinux, and zLinux
1. Upgrade to the latest release of your product, if possible
2. Download the patch.
    Linux 64-bit:
   Linux 32-bit:
   https://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/swg/selectFixes?parent=ibm%7EOther%20software&product=ibm/Other+software/IBM+Aspera+High-Speed+Transfer+Server&release=All&platform=All&function=fixId&fixids=pvt_aspera-hsts-3.9.6.178540-aspshell-fix-linux-32:952336749145676928
    PowerLinux:
    zLinux:
3. Make a backup copy of the existing aspshell binary:
  cp /opt/aspera/bin/aspshell /tmp/aspshell
4. Install the newly downloaded binary:
  cp path_to_downloaded_aspshell /opt/aspera/bin/
5. Change permissions and ownership: 
    chmod 0755 /opt/aspera/bin/aspshell
  chown root:root /opt/aspera/bin/aspshell
6. There is no version number accessible from aspshell, so validate with shasum:
  shasum -a 256 /opt/aspera/bin/aspshell
    Or for Red Hat Linux, use the command: sha256sum /opt/aspera/bin/aspshell
    For Linux 64-bit, the result should be:
  cf9b6de9f6e5eff03dae1beb86aa5a53b038b014d2304b1a6f2dd293342f9d9f
    For Linux 32-bit, the result should be:
   96de9614238177ce6ba3a124b8ceb74fc12770e6b2d19851ee3af1eb42b37fbe 
For PowerLinux, the result should be: 
  0cf981215f9a55f53c0658b97de38518a9150382dcac93b460db83fda1d2c155
    For zLinux, the result should be: 
  199d3a3b4db815b9434222ec1c918ac102ec50eaee8149541b3f8c63afa78150
Windows
1. Upgrade to the latest release of your product, if possible.   
2. Download the Windows patch.
   For Windows 64-bit:
   For Windows 32-bit:
3. Make a backup copy of the existing aspshell binary.
    For HSTS: 
  copy %PROGRAMFILES%\Aspera\Enterprise Server\bin\aspshell C:\ProgramData\
    For HSTE: 
  copy %PROGRAMFILES%\Aspera\Point-to-Point\bin\aspshell C:\ProgramData\
4. Install the newly downloaded binary.
    For HSTS: 
  copy  path_to_downloaded_aspshell %PROGRAMFILES%\Aspera\Enterprise Server\bin\
    For HSTE: 
  copy path_to_downloaded_aspshell %PROGRAMFILES%\Aspera\Point-to-Point\bin\
5. Validate the shasum on Windows with this command:
  certutil -hashfile path_to_downloaded_aspshell.exe SHA256
   For Windows 64-bit, the result should be
    4f1e68895bb10b936d574557f8dab888f1201e5e5d859aec9789d07f2ccc8da9
   For Windows 32-bit the result should be:
   db5c4b8f6e2231402af7d4078bf64b84978f80dda7427c6119efb1a71fd45f4f
6. Validate the patch installation by checking that a transfer via Aspera Connect is successful.
    If so, the patch was correctly installed and the vulnerability closed.
Mac OS
1. Upgrade to the latest release of your product, if possible 
2. Download the Mac OS patch from: 
3. Make a backup of the existing aspshell binary:
  mv /Library/Aspera/bin/aspshell /tmp/aspshell
4. Install the newly downloaded binary:
  cp path_to_downloaded_aspshell Library/Aspera/bin/
5. Change permissions and ownership: 
  chmod 0755 /Library/Aspera/bin/aspshell
  chown root:admin /Library/Aspera/bin/aspshell
6. There is no version number accessible from aspshell, so validate with shasum:
  shasum -a 256 /Library/Aspera/bin/aspshell
    The result should be:
  923eb0a49ae0ad2f1da29c4a11d9ee455d31059b0f1cedda92b8f56670df5205
7. Validate the patch installation by checking that a transfer via Aspera Connect is successful.
     If so, the patch was correctly installed and the vulnerability closed.
Solaris x86 and Solaris SPARC   
1. Upgrade to the latest release of your product, if possible.  
2. Download the patch.
     Solaris x86:
    Solaris SPARC: 
3. Make a backup copy of the existing aspshell binary:
  cp /opt/aspera/bin/aspshell /tmp/aspshell
4. Install the newly downloaded binary:
  cp path_to_downloaded_aspshell /opt/aspera/bin/
5. Change permissions and ownership: 
  chmod 0755 /opt/aspera/bin/aspshell
  chown root:bin /opt/aspera/bin/aspshell
6. There is no version number accessible from aspshell, so validate with digest:
  digest -v -a sha256 /opt/aspera/bin/aspshell
    For Solaris x86, the result should be:
  8cadf22704aa81b452da41f8b876d4b32dcf9b256e02de35edff48017e58d1d4
    For Solaris SPARC, the result should be: 
  25d6b3f044441303ab4e2c2fd4fe5f5cfeb0d77db54f8ccede303db18a2a4b14
7. Validate the patch installation by checking that a transfer via Aspera Connect is successful.
    If so, the patch was correctly installed and the vulnerability closed.
Isilon  
1. Upgrade to the latest release of your product, if possible.  
2. Download the Isilon patch from: 
3. Make a backup copy of the existing aspshell binary:
  cp /usr/local/aspera/bin/aspshell /tmp/aspshell
4. Install the newly downloaded binary:
  cp path_to_downloaded_aspshell /usr/local/aspera/bin
5. Change permissions and ownership: 
  chmod 0755 /usr/local/aspera/bin/aspshell
  chown root:root /usr/local/aspera/bin/aspshell
6. There is no version number accessible from aspshell, so validate with shasum:
  shasum -a 256 /usr/local/aspera/bin/aspshell
    For Isilon, the result should be:
  387e771d33edcd3cd331945ffc879e26b7ea4e0aa47517a5191c246ba455a433
7. Validate the patch installation by checking that a transfer via Aspera Connect is successful.
    If so, the patch was correctly installed and the vulnerability closed.
AIX  
1. Upgrade to the latest release of your product, if possible.   
2. Download the AIX patch from: 
3. Make a backup copy of the existing aspshell binary:
  cp /opt/aspera/bin/aspshell /tmp/aspshell
4. Install the newly downloaded binary:
  cp path_to_downloaded_aspshell /bin/
5. Change permissions and ownership: 
  chmod 0755 /opt/aspera/bin/aspshell
  chown root:root /opt/aspera/bin/aspshell
6. There is no version number accessible from aspshell, so validate with shasum:
  shasum -a 256 /opt/aspera/bin/aspshell
    For AIX, the result should be:
  401cfc25402dfc109c9f706e1c483503e07a89b7fb1b64e4fe00d6bf49158cf1
7. Validate the patch installation by checking that a transfer via Aspera Connect is successful.
   If so, the patch was correctly installed and the vulnerability closed.
Install Patch for Aspera Proxy
1. Download the Linux patch from:
2. Make a backup copy of the existing aspshell binary:
  cp /opt/aspera/proxy/bin/aspshell /tmp/aspshell
3. Install the newly downloaded binary:
  cp path_to_downloaded_aspshell /opt/aspera/proxy/bin/
4. Change permissions and ownership: 
  chmod 0755 /opt/aspera/proxy/bin/aspshell
  chown root:root /opt/aspera/proxy/bin/aspshell
5. There is no version number accessible from aspshell, so validate with shasum:
  shasum -a 256 /opt/aspera/proxy/bin/aspshell
    For Linux, the result should be:
  cf9b6de9f6e5eff03dae1beb86aa5a53b038b014d2304b1a6f2dd293342f9d9f
Install Patch for Aspera Faspex on Demand, Aspera Server on Demand, Aspera Shares on Demand, and Aspera Application on Demand
1.SSH to your server.
    For IBM Cloud:
    # ssh -i your_key root@your_ip_address
    For AWS, you will also need to sudo to the root user. 
2. Run the following commands: 
  # cd /opt/aspera/bin
  # rm aspshell
  # chmod 755 aspshell
3. Validate the patch installation by checking that a transfer via Aspera Connect is successful.
    If so, the patch was correctly installed and the vulnerability closed.
Install Patch for Aspera Transfer Cluster Manager
Copy the following script to the Firstboot Script field of the ATCM cluster console: 
#!/bin/bash
cat > /opt/aspera/firstboot/firstboot.d/99-custom.sh << 'SCRIPT_END'
#!/bin/bash
#### whatever else you
#### might have in script already
function aspshellPatch() {
  yum install -y unzip
  pushd /opt/aspera/bin/
  cp -v -f aspshell{,.SAVE}
  popd
  pushd /tmp
  unzip aspera-hsts-3.9.6.178540-aspshell-fix.zip
  chmod 0755 aspshell
  chown root.root aspshell
  mv -v -f aspshell /opt/aspera/bin/
  rm -f aspera-hsts-3.9.6178540-aspshell-fix.zip
  popd
}
#### whatever else you
#### might have in script already
echo "========== Install aspshell patch =========="
aspshellPatch
echo "==========  Installed aspshell patch =========="
exit $ret
SCRIPT_END
chmod +x /opt/aspera/firstboot/firstboot.d/99-custom.sh

Document Location

Worldwide

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Document Information

Modified date:
20 February 2022

UID

ibm16129741