Security Bulletin: Vulnerability in RC4 stream cipher affects IBM MQ Light (CVE-2015-2808)

Summary

The RC4 “Bar Mitzvah” Attack for SSL/TLS affects IBM MQ Light.

Vulnerability Details

CVEID: CVE-2015-2808
DESCRIPTION: The RC4 algorithm, as used in the TLS protocol and SSL protocol, could allow a remote attacker to obtain sensitive information. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to remotely expose account credentials without requiring an active man-in-the-middle session. Successful exploitation could allow an attacker to retrieve credit card data or other sensitive information. This vulnerability is commonly referred to as “Bar Mitzvah Attack”.
CVSS Base Score: 5
CVSS Temporal Score: See <https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/101851&gt; for the current score
CVSS Environmental Score*: Undefined
CVSS Vector: (AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N)

Affected Products and Versions

The vulnerabilities affect users of IBM MQ Light V1.0 and V1.0.0.1 on all platforms.

Remediation/Fixes

None.

Workarounds and Mitigations

1. You must download and install the appropriate MQ Light Server for your platform as shown below:

The following link describes how to re-use the data from your existing installation:
<http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSBJCR_1.0.0/com.ibm.mq.koa.doc/tmql_data.htm&gt;

2. Disable the RC4 stream cipher by editing the following file:
Windows - <installation directory>\runtime\java\jre\lib\security\java.security
Linux - <installation directory>/runtime/java/jre64/jre/lib/security
Mac - <installation directory>/runtime/java/jre64/Contents/Home/lib/security

Add RC4 to the list of disabled TLS algorithms specified by the property jdk.tls.disabledAlgorithms. For example:
jdk.tls.disabledAlgorithms=SSLv3, RC4

You should verify applying this configuration change does not cause any compatibility issues. Not disabling the RC4 stream cipher will expose yourself to the attack described above. IBM recommends that you review your entire environment to identify other areas where you have enabled the RC4 stream cipher and take appropriate mitigation and remediation actions.