Security Bulletin
Summary
IBM Watson Assistant for IBM Cloud Pak for Data is affected but not vulnerable to a remote code execution in Spring Framework (CVE-2022-22965) as it does not meet all of the following criteria: 1. JDK 9 or higher, 2. Apache Tomcat as the Servlet container, 3. Packaged as WAR (in contrast to a Spring Boot executable jar), 4. Spring-webmvc or spring-webflux dependency, 5. Spring Framework versions 5.3.0 to 5.3.17, 5.2.0 to 5.2.19, and older versions. Spring Framework is used by IBM Watson Assistant for IBM Cloud Pak for Data as part of its developement infrastructure. The fix includes Spring version 5.3.18, 5.2.20 or later.
Vulnerability Details
CVEID: CVE-2022-22965
DESCRIPTION: Spring Framework could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the system, caused by the improper handling of PropertyDescriptor objects used with data binding. By sending specially-crafted data to a Spring Java application, an attacker could exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code on the system.
Note: The exploit requires Spring Framework to be run on Tomcat as a WAR deployment with JDK 9 or higher using spring-webmvc or spring-webflux.
Note: This vulnerability is also known as Spring4Shell or SpringShell.
CVSS Base score: 9.8
CVSS Temporal Score: See: https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/223103 for the current score.
CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)
Affected Products and Versions
| Affected Product(s) | Version(s) |
| IBM Watson Assistant for IBM Cloud Pack for Data | 1.5.0, 4.0.0. 4.0.2, 4.0.4, 4.0.5, 4.0.6, 4.0.7 |
Remediation/Fixes
For all affected versions, IBM strongly recommends addressing the vulnerability now by upgrading to the latest (v4.0.8) release of IBM Watson Assistant for IBM Cloud Pak for Data which maintains backward compatibility with the versions listed above.
| Product Latest Version | Remediation/Fix/Instructions |
| IBM Watson Assistant for IBM Cloud Pak for Data 4.0.8 |
Follow instructions for Installing Watson Assistant in Link to Release (v4.0.8 release information) https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/cloud-paks/cp-data/4.0?topic=assistant-installing-watson |
Workarounds and Mitigations
None
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References
Change History
27 Apr 2022: Initial Publication
*The CVSS Environment Score is customer environment specific and will ultimately impact the Overall CVSS Score. Customers can evaluate the impact of this vulnerability in their environments by accessing the links in the Reference section of this Security Bulletin.
Disclaimer
Review the IBM security bulletin disclaimer and definitions regarding your responsibilities for assessing potential impact of security vulnerabilities to your environment.
Document Location
Worldwide
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Document Information
Modified date:
05 May 2022
Initial Publish date:
27 April 2022
UID
ibm16581969