Security Bulletin: Vulnerabilities in GSKit affect IBM WebSphere MQ (CVE-2015-0159, CVE-2015-0138 and CVE-2014-6221)

Summary

GSKit is an IBM component that is used by IBM WebSphere MQ. The GSKit that is shipped with IBM WebSphere MQ contains multiple security vulnerabilities including the “FREAK: Factoring Attack on RSA-EXPORT keys” TLS/SSL client and server vulnerability.

Vulnerability Details

CVEID: CVE-2014-6221**
DESCRIPTION:** Random Data Generation using GSKit MSCAPI/MSCNG Interface Code does not generate cryptographically random data. An attacker could use this weakness to gain complete confidentially and/or integrity compromise.
CVSS Base Score: 8.8
CVSS Temporal Score: See http://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/#/vulnerabilities/98929 for the current score
CVSS Environmental Score*: Undefined
CVSS Vector: (AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:N)

CVEID: CVE-2015-0138 DESCRIPTION: A vulnerability in various IBM SSL/TLS implementations could allow a remote attacker to downgrade the security of certain SSL/TLS connections. An IBM SSL/TLS client implementation could accept the use of an RSA temporary key in a non-export RSA key exchange ciphersuite. This could allow a remote attacker using man-in-the-middle techniques to facilitate brute-force decryption of TLS/SSL traffic between vulnerable clients and servers.

This vulnerability is also known as the FREAK attack.

CVSS Base Score: 4.3
CVSS Temporal Score: See http://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/#/vulnerabilities/100691 for the current score
CVSS Environmental Score*: Undefined
CVSS Vector: (AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N)

CVEID: CVE-2015-0159 DESCRIPTION: An unspecified error in GSKit usage of OpenSSL crypto function related to the production of incorrect results on some platforms by Bignum squaring (BN_sqr) has an unknown attack vector and impact in some ECC operations.
CVSS Base Score: 2.6
CVSS Temporal Score: See http://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/#/vulnerabilities/100835 for the current score
CVSS Environmental Score*: Undefined
CVSS Vector: (AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N)

Affected Products and Versions

IBM WebSphere MQ V7.0.1

• AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris & Windows

IBM WebSphere MQ 7.1

• AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris & Windows

IBM WebSphere MQ 7.5

• AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris & Windows

IBM WebSphere MQ 8.0

• AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris & Windows

IBM MQ Appliance M2000

Remediation/Fixes

IBM strongly recommends immediately changing any channel definitions that use any of the following MQ CipherSpecs to use a stronger encryption algorithm;

• RC4_MD5_EXPORT
• TLS_RSA_EXPORT_WITH_RC4_40_MD5
• RC2_MD5_EXPORT
• TLS_RSA_EXPORT_WITH_RC2_40_MD5

Note that IBM may need to deprecate the use of weaker algorithms in response to a security vulnerability, for example MQ CipherSpecs which are not certified as FIPS 140-2 compliant via future product maintenance. Further details on the MQ CipherSpecs that are currently available can be found here.

IBM WebSphere MQ

Download and install the ifix for APAR IV70568 from Fix Central

IBM MQ Appliance M2000

A firmware update containing this fix is available, please contact your IBM Support Representative for further details.

Workarounds and Mitigations

Note that IBM WebSphere MQ for IBM i (all releases) is not affected by any of these vulnerabilities, however IBM recommends that customers review system value QSSLCSL to limit the use of export strength cipher specifications.

On other distributed platforms, enabling FIPS mode on a queue manager prevents export strength ciphers from being accepted by inbound connections and also from being used by outbound connections.

The MQ channel protocol protects against a man-in-the-middle downgrade of secure socket protocol and/or ciphersuites through channel SSLCIPH validation. After a successful handshake, the MQ protocol exchanges communications flows to negotiate channel startup, this processing detects an export ciphersuite being used where a stronger level of ciphersuite is required. In this scenario, the channel does not exchange any messages and logs an AMQ9631 error in the queue manager error logs before ending the connection.