Security Bulletin
Summary
Potential vulnerability in OpenPrinting CUPS has been identified that affects IBM watsonx Assistant Cartridge and IBM watsonx Orchestrate with watsonx Assistant Cartridge - Assistant Builder Component. The vulnerability have been addressed. Refer to details for additional information.
Vulnerability Details
CVEID: CVE-2024-35235
DESCRIPTION: OpenPrinting CUPS is an open source printing system for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. In versions 2.4.8 and earlier, when starting the cupsd server with a Listen configuration item pointing to a symbolic link, the cupsd process can be caused to perform an arbitrary chmod of the provided argument, providing world-writable access to the target. Given that cupsd is often running as root, this can result in the change of permission of any user or system files to be world writable. Given the aforementioned Ubuntu AppArmor context, on such systems this vulnerability is limited to those files modifiable by the cupsd process. In that specific case it was found to be possible to turn the configuration of the Listen argument into full control over the cupsd.conf and cups-files.conf configuration files. By later setting the User and Group arguments in cups-files.conf, and printing with a printer configured by PPD with a `FoomaticRIPCommandLine` argument, arbitrary user and group (not root) command execution could be achieved, which can further be used on Ubuntu systems to achieve full root command execution. Commit ff1f8a623e090dee8a8aadf12a6a4b25efac143d contains a patch for the issue.
CWE: CWE-59: Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following')
CVSS Source: IBM X-Force
CVSS Base score: 6.7
CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)
Affected Products and Versions
| Affected Product(s) | Version(s) |
| IBM watsonx Assistant Cartridge | 4.0 - 5.1.0 |
| IBM watsonx Orchestrate with watsonx Assistant Cartridge - Assistant Builder Component. | 5.0 - 5.1.0 |
Remediation/Fixes
For all affected versions, IBM strongly recommends addressing the vulnerability now by upgrading to the latest (v5.1.1 or later releases) release of IBM watsonx Assistant Cartridge which maintains backward compatibility with the versions listed above.
| Product Latest Version | Remediation/Fix/Instructions |
| IBM watsonx Assistant Cartridge 5.1.1 |
Follow instructions for Installing watsonx Assistant in Link to Release (v5.1.1 release information) https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/cloud-paks/cp-data/5.1.x |
| IBM watsonx Orchestrate with watsonx Assistant Cartridge - Assistant Builder Component. |
Upgrade to IBM watsonx Orchestrate with IBM watsonx Assistant Cartridge 5.1.1https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/watsonx/watson-orchestrate/current?topic=installing-watsonx-orchestrate-premises |
Workarounds and Mitigations
None
Get Notified about Future Security Bulletins
References
Acknowledgement
Change History
12 Mar 2025: 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
According to the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST), the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) is an "industry open standard designed to convey vulnerability severity and help to determine urgency and priority of response." IBM PROVIDES THE CVSS SCORES ""AS IS"" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. CUSTOMERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF ANY ACTUAL OR POTENTIAL SECURITY VULNERABILITY. In addition to other efforts to address potential vulnerabilities, IBM periodically updates the record of components contained in our product offerings. As part of that effort, if IBM identifies previously unidentified packages in a product/service inventory, we address relevant vulnerabilities regardless of CVE date. Inclusion of an older CVEID does not demonstrate that the referenced product has been used by IBM since that date, nor that IBM was aware of a vulnerability as of that date. We are making clients aware of relevant vulnerabilities as we become aware of them. "Affected Products and Versions" referenced in IBM Security Bulletins are intended to be only products and versions that are supported by IBM and have not passed their end-of-support or warranty date. Thus, failure to reference unsupported or extended-support products and versions in this Security Bulletin does not constitute a determination by IBM that they are unaffected by the vulnerability. Reference to one or more unsupported versions in this Security Bulletin shall not create an obligation for IBM to provide fixes for any unsupported or extended-support products or versions.
Document Location
Worldwide
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Document Information
Modified date:
12 March 2025
Initial Publish date:
12 March 2025
UID
ibm17185574