Security Bulletin: IBM Informix Client SDK CPU utilization (CVE-2014-0963)

Summary

Informix Client SDK is affected by a problem related to the SSL implementation which, under very specific conditions, can cause CPU utilization to rapidly increase.

Vulnerability Details

CVE ID: CVE-2014-0963

DESCRIPTION:
Informix Client SDK is affected by a problem with the handling of certain SSL messages. The TLS implementation can, under very specific conditions, cause CPU utilization to rapidly increase. The situation occurs only in a certain error case that causes a single thread to begin looping. If this happens multiple times, more threads will begin to loop and an increase in CPU utilization will be seen. This increase could ultimately result in CPU exhaustion and unresponsiveness of the Informix Client SDK and other software running on the affected system.

This issue can affect the availability of the system, but does not impact system confidentiality or integrity. This vulnerability can be remotely exploited, authentication is not required and the exploit is moderately complex.

To determine if your systems are being affected by this issue, you can monitor the CPU utilization for Informix Client SDK instances.

CVSS Base Score: 7.1
CVSS Temporal Score: See https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/92844 for the current score
CVSS Environmental Score*: Undefined
CVSS Vector: (AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C)

Affected Products and Versions

CSDK 3.50, 3.70 and 4.10

Remediation/Fixes

Product

| Remediation/First Fix
—|—
Informix Client SDK 4.10| Upgrade to 4.10.xC4 or download and install GSKit (see next section)
Informix Client SDK 3.70| Upgrade to 3.70.xC9 or download and install GSKit (see next section)
Informix Client SDK 3.50| Upgrade and install GSKit (see next section)

Upgrading GSKit:

1. Download the appropriate GSKit using the following table:
   Product|Required GSKit version|GSKit link
   —|—|—
   Informix Client SDK 4.10

Informix Client SDK 3.70 (all platforms other than HP-UX PA-RISC)| 8.0.50.20| AIX (pSeries_32, pSeries_64)
HP-UX (Itanium_32, Itanium_64)
Linux (x86_32, x86_64, pSeries_64, zSeries_32, zSeries_64)
Solaris (SPARC_32, SPARC_64, x86_32, x86_64)
Windows (x86_32, x86_64)
Informix Client SDK 3.70 (HP-UX PA-RISC platforms only)| 7.0.4.50| HP-UX (PA-RISC_32, PA-RISC_64)
Informix Client SDK 3.50| 7.0.4.50| AIX (pSeries_32, pSeries_64)
HP-UX (Itanium_32, Itanium_64, PA-RISC_32, PA-RISC_64)
Linux (x86_32, x86_64, pSeries_64, zSeries_32, zSeries_64)
Solaris (SPARC_32, SPARC_64, x86_32, x86_64)
Windows (x86_32, x86_64)
2. Unix/Linux instructions:
1. Copy the downloaded tar file(s) to $INFORMIXDIR/gskit. Note: the old gskit .tar files must be removed or renamed to not end in .tar.
2. Bring the database server offline. (e.g. onmode -ky).
3. Change to the GSKit directory (cd $INFORMIXDIR/gskit).
4. As root, run “./installgskit”.
5. To verify the installation, run the appropriate command (i.e. gsk7ver, gsk7ver_64, gsk8ver or gsk8ver_64) for the GSKit you installed. The new version should be 7.0.4.50 or 8.0.50.20.
3. Windows GSkit version 7 x86_32 instructions:
1. Copy/download the gsk7d_7.0.4.50_win32.exe file to C:\tmp.
2. Start the ‘cmd’ program.
3. Change to the C:\temp directory (cd c:\tmp).
4. Run “gsk7d_7.0.4.50_win32.exe /D tmp”. This will extract the files to the C:\tmp\tmp directory.
5. Change to the C:\tmp\tmp directory (cd C:\tmp\tmp).
6. Run “setup GSK7BAS”. Accept all of the defaults.
7. To verify the installation, run gsk7ver to verify the installation. The new version should be 7.0.4.50.
4. All other Windows versions instructions:
1. Copy/download the appropriate file (gsk7d_7.0.4.50_win64.msi, gsk8ssl32.exe or gsk8ssl64.exe) to C:\tmp.
2. Using Windows Explorer, double click on the downloaded file. This will start Install Shield. Accept all of the defaults.
3. To verify the installation, run the appropriate command (i.e. gsk7ver_64, gsk8ver or gsk8ver_64) for the GSKit you installed. The new version should be 7.0.4.50 or 8.0.50.20.

Workarounds and Mitigations

Monitor CPU utilization of your Program Name instances. If utilization becomes abnormally high, stop and restart the affected instance.