Security Bulletin: IBM Sterling Connect:Direct for UNIX CPU utilization (CVE-2014-0963)

Summary

IBM Sterling Connect:Direct for UNIX is affected by a problem related to the SSL implementation which, under very specific conditions, can cause CPU utilization to rapidly increase.

Vulnerability Details

IBM Sterling Connect:Direct for UNIX 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 IBM Sterling Connect:Direct for UNIX 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 IBM Sterling Connect:Direct for UNIX 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

IBM Sterling Connect:Direct for UNIX 4.2.0.0

No other version of IBM Sterling Connect:Direct for UNIX is affected

Remediation/Fixes

IBM has provided patches for all affected versions. Follow the installation instructions in the README files included with the patch.

Workarounds and Mitigations

None