Security Bulletin: IBM Spectrum Scale for IBM Elastic Storage Server is affected by the use of Local Read Only Cache (LROC) which may result in directory corruption and undetected data corruption in regular files.

Summary

The Elastic Storage Server is affected by a vulnerability in IBM Spectrum Scale where after cached data is moved from memory to the LROC device, any changes to that data should trigger invalidation of the data stored in LROC. Due to a problem with invalidation logic, it is possible for the invalidation of this LROC data to be skipped. This could lead to stale or incorrect data being recalled from LROC, with potential for the corruption of files and directories

Vulnerability Details

CVEID: CVE-2018-1993 DESCRIPTION: IBM Spectrum Scale (GPFS) where the use of Local Read Only Cache (LROC) is enabled may caused read operation on a file to return data from a different file.
CVSS Base Score: 4
CVSS Temporal Score: See <https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/154440&gt; for the current score
CVSS Environmental Score*: Undefined
CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N)

Affected Products and Versions

The Elastic Storage Server 5.3 thru 5.3.1.1
The Elastic Storage Server 5.0.0 thru 5.2.4
The Elastic Storage Server 4.5.0 thru 4.6.0
The Elastic Storage Server 4.0.0 thru 4.0.6

Remediation/Fixes

For IBM Elastic Storage Server V5.0.0. thru 5.3.1.1, apply V5.3.2.0 available from FixCentral at:

https://www-945.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/swg/selectFixes?parent=Software%20defined%20storage&product=ibm/StorageSoftware/IBM+Elastic+Storage+Server+(ESS)&release=5.3.0&platform=All&function=all

For IBM Elastic Storage Server V5.0.0. thru 5.2.4.0, apply V5.2.5 available from FixCentral at:

https://www-945.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/swg/selectFixes?parent=Software%20defined%20storage&product=ibm/StorageSoftware/IBM+Elastic+Storage+Server+(ESS)&release=5.2.0&platform=All&function=all

If you are unable to upgrade to ESS 5.3.2.0 or 5.2.5, please contact IBM Service to obtain an efix:

- For IBM Elastic Storage Server 5.3-5.3.1.1, reference APAR IJ10565
- For IBM Elastic Storage Server 5.0 - 5.2.4.0, reference APAR IJ10573
- For IBM Elastic Storage Server 4.0.0 - 4.6.0, reference APAR IJ11409

To contact IBM Service, see <http://www.ibm.com/planetwide/&gt;

Workarounds and Mitigations

Work-around : Although IBM recommends that you install a level of IBM Elastic Storage Server code with a fix, you can avoid this vulnerability by not enabling Local Read Only (LROC) feature in IBM Spectrum Scale.