CVE-2023-45174: Security Bulletin: AIX is vulnerable to privilege escalation and denial of service (CVE-2023-45166, CVE-2023-45174, CVE-2023-45170)

Summary

A vulnerability in the AIX printers system could allow a non-privileged local user to obtain elevated privileges or cause a denial of service (CVE-2023-45166, CVE-2023-45174, CVE-2023-45170).

Vulnerability Details

Affected Products and Versions

Affected Product(s)

Version(s)

AIX

7.2

AIX

7.3

VIOS

3.1

The vulnerabilities in the following filesets are being addressed:

Fileset

Lower Level

Upper Level

bos.rte.printers

7.2.5.100

7.2.5.101

printers.rte

7.2.4.0

7.2.4.0

bos.rte.printers

7.2.5.200

7.2.5.201

printers.rte

7.2.5.200

7.2.5.201

bos.rte.printers

7.3.0.0

7.3.0.2

printers.rte

7.3.0.2

7.3.0.2

bos.rte.printers

7.3.1.0

7.3.1.1

printers.rte

7.3.1.0

7.3.1.1

To find out whether the affected filesets are installed on your systems, refer to the lslpp command found in AIX user’s guide.

Example: lslpp -L | grep -I bos.printers.rte

Remediation/Fixes

A. APARS

IBM has assigned the following APARs to this problem:

AIX Level

APAR

SP

7.2.5

IJ48481

SP07

7.3.0

IJ48784

N/A

7.3.1

IJ48593

SP03

VIOS Level

APAR

FP

3.1.3

IJ49461

N/A

3.1.4

IJ48481

3.1.4.30

Subscribe to the APARs here:

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/apar/[APAR Number]

By subscribing, you will receive periodic email alerting you to the status of the APAR, and a link to download the fix once it becomes available.

B. FIXES

IBM strongly recommends addressing the vulnerability now.

AIX and VIOS fixes are available.

The AIX and VIOS fixes can be downloaded via https from:

https://aix.software.ibm.com/aix/efixes/security/printers_fix.tar

The fixes are cumulative and address the previously issued AIX/VIOS lpd security bulletin with respect to SP and TL:

https://aix.software.ibm.com/aix/efixes/security/lpd_advisory3.asc

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6848309

The link above is to a tar file containing this signed advisory, fix packages, and OpenSSL signatures for each package. The fixes below include prerequisite checking. This will enforce the correct mapping between the fixes and AIX Technology Levels.

AIX Level

Interim Fix

7.2.5.5

IJ48481m5a.231207.epkg.Z

7.2.5.6

IJ48481m6a.230927.epkg.Z

7.3.0.2

IJ48784m2a.231207.epkg.Z

7.3.0.3

IJ48784m3a.231207.epkg.Z

7.3.0.4

IJ48784m4a.231002.epkg.Z

7.3.1.1

IJ48539m1a.231207.epkg.Z

7.3.1.2

IJ48539m2a.230928.epkg.Z

Please note that the above table refers to AIX TL/SP level as opposed to fileset level, i.e., 7.2.5.6 is AIX 7200-05-06.

VIOS Level

Interim Fix

3.1.3.21

IJ49461m2a.231207.epkg.Z

3.1.3.30

IJ49461m4a.231207.epkg.Z

3.1.3.40

IJ49461m4a.231207.epkg.Z

3.1.4.10

IJ48481m5a.231207.epkg.Z

3.1.4.21

IJ48481m6a.230927.epkg.Z

To extract the fixes from the tar file:

tar xvf printers_fix.tar

cd printers_fix

Verify you have retrieved the fixes intact:

The checksums below were generated using the "openssl dgst -sha256 [filename]" command as the following:

openssl dgst -sha256

filename

9121c3cdea0155b52bace7d3a056c5297c2f9e02b0bf956e3a18c71bae80c710

IJ48481m5a.231207.epkg.Z

a81f571475772a99e14687f84e7144ee788bc94fac32270202841cd934b84f6c

IJ48481m6a.230927.epkg.Z

0c178169d1379ad8e080c5bbfb4669d7d1dc43916b395e012b5c10c53a33432f

IJ48539m1a.231207.epkg.Z

583686e59b312511d4aad17a22192bc6743bb090ffa16a9331309dea2a683fcf

IJ48539m2a.230928.epkg.Z

13b443e0f2efd1197a0e28fdb6af6f49652c58b65b2985fb0d0911297062c2e6

IJ48784m2a.231207.epkg.Z

051200f7127afe81fb60ec3baa8030c6ee3d88d6214bd5cf77d4928d4bf449f0

IJ48784m3a.231207.epkg.Z

a6fea97596f7823e409042d2c850dcd761a0261c6007ee696d39ed814e77d3f4

IJ48784m4a.231002.epkg.Z

00b4e8e4949becd50f471cf30cc3d88c6e9e9e59ab144f60a5c89dfd817507fd

IJ49461m2a.231207.epkg.Z

7ef30ed9a48ffb899be1a54093598482fcfe4a36154b21a59cf43058847d17fc

IJ49461m4a.231207.epkg.Z

These sums should match exactly. The OpenSSL signatures in the tar file and on this advisory can also be used to verify the integrity of the fixes. If the sums or signatures cannot be confirmed, contact IBM Support at http://ibm.com/support/ and describe the discrepancy.

openssl dgst -sha256 -verify [pubkey_file] -signature [advisory_file].sig [advisory_file]

openssl dgst -sha256 -verify [pubkey_file] -signature [ifix_file].sig [ifix_file]

Published advisory OpenSSL signature file location:

https://aix.software.ibm.com/aix/efixes/security/printers_advisory.asc.sig

C. FIX AND INTERIM FIX INSTALLATION

If possible, it is recommended that a mksysb backup of the system be created. Verify it is both bootable and readable before proceeding.

To preview a fix installation:

installp -a -d fix_name -p all # where fix_name is the name of the

                                        # fix package being previewed.

To install a fix package:

installp -a -d fix_name -X all # where fix_name is the name of the

                                        # fix package being installed.

Interim fixes have had limited functional and regression testing but not the full regression testing that takes place for Service Packs; however, IBM does fully support them.

Interim fix management documentation can be found at:

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/managing-interim-fixes-aix

To preview an interim fix installation:

emgr -e ipkg_name -p # where ipkg_name is the name of the

                                     # interim fix package being previewed.

To install an interim fix package:

emgr -e ipkg_name -X # where ipkg_name is the name of the

                                     # interim fix package being installed.

Workarounds and Mitigations

None

References

Off

Acknowledgement

Change History

11 Dec 2023: Initial Publication

*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

According to the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST), the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) is an “industry open standard designed to convey vulnerability severity and help to determine urgency and priority of response.” IBM PROVIDES THE CVSS SCORES “"AS IS"” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. CUSTOMERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF ANY ACTUAL OR POTENTIAL SECURITY VULNERABILITY. In addition to other efforts to address potential vulnerabilities, IBM periodically updates the record of components contained in our product offerings. As part of that effort, if IBM identifies previously unidentified packages in a product/service inventory, we address relevant vulnerabilities regardless of CVE date. Inclusion of an older CVEID does not demonstrate that the referenced product has been used by IBM since that date, nor that IBM was aware of a vulnerability as of that date. We are making clients aware of relevant vulnerabilities as we become aware of them. “Affected Products and Versions” referenced in IBM Security Bulletins are intended to be only products and versions that are supported by IBM and have not passed their end-of-support or warranty date. Thus, failure to reference unsupported or extended-support products and versions in this Security Bulletin does not constitute a determination by IBM that they are unaffected by the vulnerability. Reference to one or more unsupported versions in this Security Bulletin shall not create an obligation for IBM to provide fixes for any unsupported or extended-support products or versions.

Document Location

Worldwide

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