Security Bulletin: Vulnerability in Apache Log4j affects some features of IBM SPSS Analytic Server (CVE-2021-4104)

Summary

There is a vulnerability in the version of Apache Log4j that was included in IBM SPSS Analytic Server, which uses Apache Log4j for logging. This patch replaces the older Apache log4j with version 2.17.1.

Vulnerability Details

CVEID:CVE-2021-4104
**DESCRIPTION:**Apache Log4j could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the system, caused by the deserialization of untrusted data when the attacker has write access to the Log4j configuration. If the deployed application is configured to use JMSAppender, an attacker could exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code on the system.
CVSS Base score: 8.1
CVSS Temporal Score: See: https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/215048 for the current score.
CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)

Affected Products and Versions

Remediation/Fixes

IBM strongly recommends addressing the vulnerability now by applying the following fixes.

This patch include Apache Log4j 2.17.1

Installation Instructions

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1. Stop the Analytic Server service.

- For Hortonworks, stop Analytic Server from the Ambari console.

- For Cloudera, stop Analytic Server from the Cloudera Manager console.

- For MapR, run the following command to stop Analytic Server:

cd <as_installation_path>/ae_wlpserver/bin

./server stop aeserver

Note: The default location of the “as_installation_path” folder is:

- HDP: /opt/ibm/spss/analyticserver/3.x

- CDH: /opt/cloudera/parcels/AnalyticServer

2. Backup and delete the old files in AS installation folder.

<as_installation_path>/lib

- com.springsource.org.apache.log4j-1.2.16.jar

- slf4j-api-1.6.1.jar (AS 3.2.1.x)

- slf4j-simple-1.6.1.jar (AS 3.2.1.x)

<as_installation_path>/ae_wlpserver/usr/servers/aeserver/apps/AE_BOOT.war/WEB-INF/lib

- com.springsource.org.apache.log4j-1.2.16.jar

- slf4j-api-1.6.1.jar (AS 3.2.1.x)

- slf4j-simple-1.6.1.jar (AS 3.2.1.x)

3. Copy the new files within zip package to AS installation folder on the Analytic Server Metastore and each Analytic Server node.

The files updated by Interim Fix are listed below.

<as_installation_path>/lib

- log4j-1.2-api-2.17.1.jar

- log4j-api-2.17.1.jar

- log4j-core-2.17.1.jar

<as_installation_path>/ae_wlpserver/usr/servers/aeserver/apps/AE_BOOT.war/WEB-INF/lib

- log4j-1.2-api-2.17.1.jar

- log4j-api-2.17.1.jar

- log4j-core-2.17.1.jar

4. Run the hdfsUpdate script.

- HDP: Refresh the Analytic Server service from the Ambari console.

- CDH: Refresh Analytic Server binaries from the Cloudera Manager console.

- MapR: Run the following commands:

cd <as_installation_path>/bin

./hdfsUpdate.sh

5. Start the Analytic Server service.

Note:

1. For /user/as_user/analytic-root/defaultASsubpath/classpath directory in HDFS, several log4j jar files are there and copied from hadoop cluster.

If they are updated, please repeat step 1 to 5.

2. If the below files are found in logs subfolder, they can be safely deleted.

<as_installation_path>/ae_wlpserver/usr/servers/aeserver/logs

- ${logger.id}as.log

- ${logger.id}as_trace.log

- ${logger.id}sql.log

Workarounds and Mitigations

None