Timing attack in IBM Operations Analytics - Log Analysis

1) Information Exposure Through Timing Discrepancy

EUVDB-ID: #VU56790

Risk: Low

CVSSv3.1: 5.5 [CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N/E:U/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2021-38153

CWE-ID: CWE-208 - Information Exposure Through Timing Discrepancy

Exploit availability: No

Description

The vulnerability allows a local user to escalate privileges on the system.

the vulnerability exists due to some components in Apache Kafka use "Arrays.equals" to validate a password or key, which is vulnerable to timing attacks. A local user can abuse the "Arrays.equals" to brute force access credentials and escalate privileges on the system.

Mitigation

Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Log Analysis: before 1.3.7.2 IF003

External links

http://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6839075

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

No. This vulnerability can be exploited locally. The attacker should have authentication credentials and successfully authenticate on the system.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.