Multiple vulnerabilities in IBM Answer Retrieval for Watson Discovery

1) Inconsistent interpretation of HTTP requests

EUVDB-ID: #VU67850

Risk: Medium

CVSSv3.1: 5.3 [CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N/E:U/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2022-35256

CWE-ID: CWE-444 - Inconsistent Interpretation of HTTP Requests ('HTTP Request Smuggling')

Exploit availability: No

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to perform HTTP request smuggling attacks.

The vulnerability exists due to improper validation of HTTP requests. A remote attacker can send a specially crafted HTTP request to the server and smuggle arbitrary HTTP headers.

Successful exploitation of vulnerability may allow an attacker to poison HTTP cache and perform phishing attacks.

Mitigation

Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Answer Retrieval for Watson Discovery On Prem: before 2.9.0

External links

http://www.ibm.com/blogs/psirt/security-bulletin-multiple-vulnerabilities-present-in-ibm-answer-retrieval-for-watson-discovery-versions-2-8-and-earlier/
http://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6830297

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

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

2) Use of insufficiently random values

EUVDB-ID: #VU67849

Risk: Medium

CVSSv3.1: 6.5 [CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N/E:U/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2022-35255

CWE-ID: CWE-330 - Use of Insufficiently Random Values

Exploit availability: No

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to decrypt sensitive information.

The vulnerability exists due to usage of weak randomness in WebCrypto keygen within the SecretKeyGenTraits::DoKeyGen() in src/crypto/crypto_keygen.cc. A remote attacker can decrypt sensitive information.

Mitigation

Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Answer Retrieval for Watson Discovery On Prem: before 2.9.0

External links

http://www.ibm.com/blogs/psirt/security-bulletin-multiple-vulnerabilities-present-in-ibm-answer-retrieval-for-watson-discovery-versions-2-8-and-earlier/
http://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6830297

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

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

3) Input validation error

EUVDB-ID: #VU69293

Risk: Medium

CVSSv3.1: 5.7 [CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2022-3171

CWE-ID: CWE-20 - Improper input validation

Exploit availability: No

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

The vulnerability exists due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input containing multiple instances of non-repeated embedded messages with repeated or unknown fields. A remote attacker can cause objects to be converted back-n-forth between mutable and immutable forms, resulting in potentially long garbage collection pauses.

Mitigation

Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Answer Retrieval for Watson Discovery On Prem: before 2.9.0

External links

http://www.ibm.com/blogs/psirt/security-bulletin-multiple-vulnerabilities-present-in-ibm-answer-retrieval-for-watson-discovery-versions-2-8-and-earlier/
http://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6830297

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the local network (LAN).

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

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

4) Code Injection

EUVDB-ID: #VU68307

Risk: High

CVSSv3.1: 9.1 [CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2022-42889

CWE-ID: CWE-94 - Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')

Exploit availability: Yes

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the target system.

The vulnerability exists due to an insecure variable interpolation when processing untrusted input. A remote attacker can send a specially crafted input and execute arbitrary code on the target system.

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability may result in complete compromise of vulnerable system.

Note, the vulnerability was dubbed Text4shell.

Mitigation

Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Answer Retrieval for Watson Discovery On Prem: before 2.9.0

External links

http://www.ibm.com/blogs/psirt/security-bulletin-multiple-vulnerabilities-present-in-ibm-answer-retrieval-for-watson-discovery-versions-2-8-and-earlier/
http://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6830297

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability. However, a fully functional exploit for this vulnerability is available.

5) Deserialization of Untrusted Data

EUVDB-ID: #VU68635

Risk: Medium

CVSSv3.1: 6.5 [CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2022-42003

CWE-ID: CWE-502 - Deserialization of Untrusted Data

Exploit availability: No

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

The vulnerability exists due to insecure input validation when processing serialized data when the UNWRAP_SINGLE_VALUE_ARRAYS feature is enabled. A remote attacker can pass specially crafted data to the application and cause a denial of service condition on the target system.

Mitigation

Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Answer Retrieval for Watson Discovery On Prem: before 2.9.0

External links

http://www.ibm.com/blogs/psirt/security-bulletin-multiple-vulnerabilities-present-in-ibm-answer-retrieval-for-watson-discovery-versions-2-8-and-earlier/
http://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6830297

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

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

6) Resource exhaustion

EUVDB-ID: #VU68832

Risk: Medium

CVSSv3.1: 6.5 [CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2022-42004

CWE-ID: CWE-400 - Resource exhaustion

Exploit availability: No

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

The vulnerability exists due to application does not properly control usage of deeply nested arrays in BeanDeserializer._deserializeFromArray. A remote attacker can trigger resource exhaustion and perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

Mitigation

Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Answer Retrieval for Watson Discovery On Prem: before 2.9.0

External links

http://www.ibm.com/blogs/psirt/security-bulletin-multiple-vulnerabilities-present-in-ibm-answer-retrieval-for-watson-discovery-versions-2-8-and-earlier/
http://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6830297

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

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

7) Inconsistent interpretation of HTTP requests

EUVDB-ID: #VU69209

Risk: Medium

CVSSv3.1: 5.3 [CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N/E:U/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2022-34165

CWE-ID: CWE-444 - Inconsistent Interpretation of HTTP Requests ('HTTP Request Smuggling')

Exploit availability: No

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to perform HTTP request smuggling attacks.

The vulnerability exists due to improper validation of HTTP requests. A remote attacker can send a specially crafted HTTP request to the server and smuggle arbitrary HTTP headers.

Successful exploitation of vulnerability may allow an attacker to poison HTTP cache and perform phishing attacks.

Mitigation

Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Answer Retrieval for Watson Discovery On Prem: before 2.9.0

External links

http://www.ibm.com/blogs/psirt/security-bulletin-multiple-vulnerabilities-present-in-ibm-answer-retrieval-for-watson-discovery-versions-2-8-and-earlier/
http://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6830297

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

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