Security Bulletin: A Vulnerability in the IBM SPSS Statistics Installer Affects the Windows Host System (CVE-2021-38959)

Summary

A specially crafted file can be used during IBM SPSS Statistics install leading to a denial of service attack. The IBM SPSS Statistics Installer has addressed this vulnerability.

Vulnerability Details

CVEID:CVE-2021-38959
**DESCRIPTION:**IBM SPSS Statistics could allow a local user to cause a denial of service by writing arbitrary files to admin protected directories on the system.
CVSS Base score: 6.2
CVSS Temporal Score: See: https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/212046 for the current score.
CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)

Affected Products and Versions

Remediation/Fixes

IBM SPSS Statistics 28.0 and later versions have addressed this vulnerability.

For versions 24.0, 25.0, 26.0, 27.0, and 27.0.1, upgrading to v. 28.0 addresses the issue.
If upgrading is not feasible, see mitigation note below.

Workarounds and Mitigations

When installing or re-installing SPSS Statistics 24.0, 25.0, 26.0, 27.0, or 27.0.1:

Prior to installation, ensure “C:\ProgramData\SPSS” directory entry does not exist as described in this technote.
After installation, Statistics is not vulnerable.