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Security Bulletin: Vulnerability in Apache Log4j affects IBM Spectrum Protect Backup-Archive Client and IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments (CVE-2021-44228)

Security Bulletin


Summary

A vulnerability in Apache Log4j could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the system. This vulnerability may affect the IBM Spectrum Protect Client Web GUI and IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments due to their uses of Log4j for logging of messages and traces.

Vulnerability Details

CVEID:   CVE-2021-44228
DESCRIPTION:   Apache Log4j could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the system, caused by the failure to protect against attacker controlled LDAP and other JNDI related endpoints by JNDI features. By sending a specially crafted code string, an attacker could exploit this vulnerability to load arbitrary Java code on the server and take complete control of the system. Note: The vulnerability is also called Log4Shell or LogJam.
CVSS Base score: 10
CVSS Temporal Score: See: https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/214921 for the current score.
CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H)

Affected Products and Versions

Affected Product(s)Version(s)
IBM Spectrum Protect Backup-Archive Client  - see Note 1

8.1.11.0-8.1.13.0
7.1.8.10-7.1.8.12

IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments: Data Protection for VMware8.1.11.0-8.1.13.0 see Note 2
7.1.8.10-7.1.8.12
IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments: Data Protection for Hyper-V8.1.11.0-8.1.13.0 see Note 2

Note 1: The IBM Spectrum Protect Backup-Archive Client installs the affected log4j files. However, only the Web GUI will use the affected log4j files.

Note 2: The Data Movers in 8.1.11 and above are affected

Remediation/Fixes

IBM strongly recommends addressing this vulnerability now by upgrading to the fixed level instead of using the manual process described under Workarounds and Mitigations.

Note:  The below fix packages included Log4j 2.15.

IBM Spectrum Protect Client Affected Versions
Fixing
Level
PlatformLink to Fix and Instructions
8.1.11.0-8.1.13.0 8.1.13.1AIX
Linux
Windows
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/589103
7.1.8.10-7.1.8.12

7.1.8.13

Linux
Windows

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/316619

 

IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments: Data Protection for VMware Affected Versions
Fixing
Level
PlatformLink to Fix and Instructions
8.1.11.0-8.1.13.0 8.1.13.1Linux
Windows
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6487157 
7.1.8.10-7.1.8.127.1.8.13Linux
Windows
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/316625

 

IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments: Data Protection for Hyper-V Affected Versions
Fixing
Level
PlatformLink to Fix and Instructions
8.1.11.0-8.1.13.08.1.13.1Windowshttps://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6487157 

 

Workarounds and Mitigations

Procedure to Manually Replace log4j jar files

 

The following products can use this procedure:

-  IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments: Data Protection for VMware
-  IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments: Data Protection for Hyper-V
-  IBM Spectrum Protect Backup-Archive (B/A) Clients and Data Movers

The five impacted components are:

Component

Products Using Component

vmcli

Data Protection for VMware

File Restore

Data Protection for VMware, Data Protection for Hyper-V, and Data Movers

Data Protection for VMware UI

Data Protection for VMware

vCloud Suite SDK (tagging)

Data Protection for VMware

Web GUI

B/A Clients

 

The Web GUI is tied to the following items in the B/A Client -

Windows – “Client Web Server” feature

Linux - TIVsm-WEBGUI** package

AIX - tivoli.tsm.client.webgui fileset

 

Directions to replace the log4j jars files:

 

Windows –

1. Download the following from Apache - Apache Log4j 2.15 or later can be used.

Apache Log4j 2.15 is used in these directions as an example.

Apache Log4j 2 binary(zip):    apache-log4j-2.15.0-bin.zip

https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.0/download.html 

 

2. In Windows Services, switch the following services if present to manual to avoid automatic restarts during patching process:

IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments Derby Database(vmcli)

IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments Web Server

IBM Spectrum Protect for BAClient Web Server

IBM Spectrum Protect Recovery Agent

 

3. Stop the following Windows services if present:

IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments Derby Database(vmcli)

IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments Web Server

IBM Spectrum Protect for BAClient Web Server

IBM Spectrum Protect Recovery Agent

 

4. Unzip the apache-log4j-2.15.0-bin.zip file

 

5. Remove the following log4j files from the following locations:

C:\IBM\SpectrumProtect\webserver\usr\servers\veProfile\apps\FR_API.war\WEB-INF\lib

C:\Program Files\IBM\SpectrumProtect\Framework\VEGUI\Lib

C:\Program Files\Tivoli\TSM\baclient\plugins\vcloudsuite\sdk

 

Note:  Given the potential for the B/A Client to be installed in a non-default location, it may be beneficial to simply search against locations of log4j*.jar and remove prior versions accordingly against locations where Spectrum Protect has placed these files. 

 

The files to be removed are the following:

 

log4j-api-2.13.3.jar

log4j-1.2-api-2.13.3.jar

log4j-core-2.13.3.jar

log4j-jcl-2.13.3.jar

log4j-slf4j-impl-2.13.3.jar

 

6. For the workarea folder locations, for example:

C:\IBM\SpectrumProtect\webserver\usr\servers\veProfile\workarea\org.eclipse.osgi\90\data\cacheAdapt\com.ibm.ws.app.manager_60\WEB-INF\lib

C:\IBM\SpectrumProtect\webserver\usr\servers\veProfile\workarea\org.eclipse.osgi\90\data\cacheAdapt\com.ibm.ws.app.manager_68\WEB-INF\lib

C:\IBM\SpectrumProtect\webserver\usr\servers\veProfile\workarea\org.eclipse.osgi\90\data\cacheOverlay\com.ibm.ws.app.manager_67\WEB-INF\lib\.cache

C:\IBM\SpectrumProtect\webserver\usr\servers\veProfile\workarea\org.eclipse.osgi\90\data\cacheOverlay\com.ibm.ws.app.manager_68\WEB-INF\lib\.cache

 

Folders with the log4j jar names will be created, for example:

C:\IBM\SpectrumProtect\webserver\usr\servers\veProfile\workarea\org.eclipse.osgi\90\data\cacheAdapt\com.ibm.ws.app.manager_60\WEB-INF\lib\log4j-1.2-api-2.13.3.jar\

 

Please remove these folders in the workarea location.  The values specified by _XY will vary, for example _60 vs _67:

 

C:\IBM\SpectrumProtect\webserver\usr\servers\veProfile\workarea\org.eclipse.osgi\90\data\cacheAdapt\com.ibm.ws.app.manager_60\WEB-INF\lib

 

C:\IBM\SpectrumProtect\webserver\usr\servers\veProfile\workarea\org.eclipse.osgi\90\data\cacheAdapt\com.ibm.ws.app.manager_67\WEB-INF\lib

 

7. Replace the removed files with the updated versions from the zip file where they are 2.15 or later.

 

log4j-api-2.15.0.jar

log4j-1.2-api-2.15.0.jar

log4j-core-2.15.0.jar

log4j-jcl-2.15.0.jar

log4j-slf4j-impl-2.15.0.jar

 

8. Restart the following services where applicable:

IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments Derby Database(vmcli)

IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments Web Server

IBM Spectrum Protect Recovery Agent

IBM Spectrum Protect for BAClient Web Server

 

9. In Windows Services, switch the following services back to automatic to allow automatic restarts on reboot as needed:

IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments Derby Database(vmcli)

IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments Web Server

IBM Spectrum Protect Recovery Agent

IBM Spectrum Protect for BAClient Web Server

 

Linux –

 

1. Download the following from Apache - Apache Log4j 2.15 or later can be used.

Apache Log4j 2.15 is used in these directions as an example.

Apache Log4j 2 binary(zip):    apache-log4j-2.15.0-bin.tar.gz
https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.0/download.html 
 

2. Stop the following services if present:

systemctl stop webserver / [SLES 12.3: /etc/init.d/webserver stop]
kill the vmclid process --> not for Web 3.0

  

3. Extract the files from apache-log4j-2.15.0-bin.tar.gz

 

4. Remove the following log4j files from the following locations:

/opt/tivoli/tsm/tdpvmware/common/webserver/usr/servers/veProfile/apps/FR_API.war/WEB-INF/lib/

/opt/tivoli/tsm/tdpvmware/common/webserver/usr/servers/veProfile/apps/tsmVmGUI.war/WEB-INF/lib/

/opt/tivoli/tsm/tdpvmware/common/lib/

/opt/tivoli/tsm/client/ba/bin/plugins/vcloudsuite/sdk/

/opt/tivoli/tsm/tdpvmware/common/webserver/usr/servers/veProfile/workarea/org.eclipse.osgi/88/data/cacheAdapt/com.ibm.ws.app.manager_51/WEB-INF/lib/

/opt/tivoli/tsm/tdpvmware/common/webserver/usr/servers/veProfile/workarea/org.eclipse.osgi/88/data/cacheOverlay/com.ibm.ws.app.manager_51/WEB-INF/lib/.cache/

 

Note:  Given the potential for the B/A Client to be installed in a non-default location, it may be beneficial to simply search against locations of log4j*.jar and remove prior versions accordingly against locations where Spectrum Protect has placed these files.  For the workarea folders listed above, the values may vary. 

 

The files to be removed are the following:

 

log4j-api-2.13.3.jar

log4j-1.2-api-2.13.3.jar

log4j-core-2.13.3.jar

log4j-jcl-2.13.3.jar

log4j-slf4j-impl-2.13.3.jar

 

5. Replace the removed files with the updated versions from the tar.gz file where they are 2.15 or later.

 

log4j-api-2.15.0.jar

log4j-1.2-api-2.15.0.jar

log4j-core-2.15.0.jar

log4j-jcl-2.15.0.jar

log4j-slf4j-impl-2.15.0.jar

 

6. Start the stopped services: 

vmclid daemon

"systemctl start webserver" / [SLES 12.3: /etc/init.d/webserver start]

 

 

AIX –

 

1. Download the following from Apache - Apache Log4j 2.15 or later can be used.

Apache Log4j 2.15 is used in these directions as an example.

Apache Log4j 2 binary(zip):    apache-log4j-2.15.0-bin.tar.gz

https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.0/download.html 
 

2. Stop the following process as root via the following command:

/usr/tivoli/tsm/tdpvmware/common/webserver/bin/server stop veProfile

 

3. Extract the files from apache-log4j-2.15.0-bin.tar.gz

 

4. Remove the following log4j files from the following locations:

/usr/tivoli/tsm/tdpvmware/common/webserver/usr/servers/veProfile/apps/FR_API.war/WEB-INF/lib/

/usr/tivoli/tsm/tdpvmware/common/lib/

/usr/tivoli/tsm/tdpvmware/common/webserver/usr/servers/veProfile/workarea/org.eclipse.osgi/88/data/cacheAdapt/com.ibm.ws.app.manager_51/WEB-INF/lib/

/usr/tivoli/tsm/tdpvmware/common/webserver/usr/servers/veProfile/workarea/org.eclipse.osgi/88/data/cacheOverlay/com.ibm.ws.app.manager_51/WEB-INF/lib/.cache/

 

Note:  Given the potential for the B/A Client to be installed in a non-default location, it may be beneficial to simply search against locations of log4j*.jar and remove prior versions accordingly against locations where Spectrum Protect has placed these files.  For the workarea folders listed above, the values may vary. 

 

The files to be removed are the following:

 

log4j-api-2.13.3.jar

log4j-1.2-api-2.13.3.jar

log4j-core-2.13.3.jar

log4j-jcl-2.13.3.jar

log4j-slf4j-impl-2.13.3.jar

 

5. Replace the removed files with the updated versions from the tar.gz file where they are 2.15 or later.

 

log4j-api-2.15.0.jar

log4j-1.2-api-2.15.0.jar

log4j-core-2.15.0.jar

log4j-jcl-2.15.0.jar

log4j-slf4j-impl-2.15.0.jar

 

6. Start the stopped process as root via the following command:

/usr/tivoli/tsm/tdpvmware/common/webserver/bin/server start veProfile --clean

 

Get Notified about Future Security Bulletins

References

Off

Acknowledgement

Change History

15 December 2021: Initial Publication
16 December 2021:  Added note about having to upgrade to the latest release if 8.1.10 or lower is being used.
17 December 2021:  Updated Remediation/Fixes section to include fix.
18 December 2021:  Corrected Affected 8.1 levels
20 December 2021: Updated Remediation/Fixes section to indicate that all fix packages included Log4j 2.15.
20 December 2021: Updated Procedure to Manually Replace log4j jar files under the Workarounds and Mitigations section

*The CVSS Environment Score is customer environment specific and will ultimately impact the Overall CVSS Score. Customers can evaluate the impact of this vulnerability in their environments by accessing the links in the Reference section of this Security Bulletin.

Disclaimer

Review the IBM security bulletin disclaimer and definitions regarding your responsibilities for assessing potential impact of security vulnerabilities to your environment.

Document Location

Worldwide

[{"Business Unit":{"code":"BU058","label":"IBM Infrastructure w\/TPS"},"Product":{"code":"SSERB6","label":"IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments"},"Component":"","Platform":[{"code":"PF016","label":"Linux"},{"code":"PF033","label":"Windows"}],"Version":"8.1, 7.1","Edition":"","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB26","label":"Storage"}},{"Business Unit":{"code":"BU058","label":"IBM Infrastructure w\/TPS"},"Product":{"code":"SSEQVQ","label":"IBM Spectrum Protect"},"Component":"Client","Platform":[{"code":"PF002","label":"AIX"},{"code":"PF016","label":"Linux"},{"code":"PF033","label":"Windows"}],"Version":"8.1, 7.1","Edition":"","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB26","label":"Storage"}}]

Document Information

Modified date:
20 December 2021

UID

ibm16527080