CVE-2021-20505: Medium severity IBM PowerVM Hypervisor vulnerability

Published Apr 6, 2021
·
Updated

The PowerVM Logical Partition Mobility(LPM) (PowerVM Hypervisor FW920, FW930, FW940, and FW950) encryption key exchange protocol can be compromised. If an attacker has the ability to capture encrypted LPM network traffic and is able to gain service access to the FSP they can use this information to perform a series of PowerVM service procedures to decrypt the captured migration traffic IBM X-Force ID: 198232

Other sources

The PowerVM Logical Partition Mobility(LPM) encryption key exchange protocol can be compromised. If an attacker has the ability to capture encrypted LPM network traffic and is able to gain service access to the FSP they can use this information to perform a series of PowerVM service procedures to decrypt the captured migration traffic

IBM

Affected Software

8 affected components
IBM PowerVM Hypervisor=fw920
IBM PowerVM Hypervisor=fw930
IBM PowerVM Hypervisor=fw940
IBM PowerVM Hypervisor=fw950
IBM PowerVM Hypervisor<=FW920
IBM PowerVM Hypervisor<=FW930
IBM PowerVM Hypervisor<=FW940
IBM PowerVM Hypervisor<=FW950

Event History

Apr 6, 2021
CVE Published
via IBM·12:00 AM
Jul 29, 2021
CVE Published
via MITRE·12:00 PM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·12:00 PM
DescriptionSeverityWeakness

Parent advisories

This vulnerability appears in the following advisories.

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Frequently Asked Questions

1

What are the potential risks associated with CVE-2021-20505?

CVE-2021-20505 allows an attacker to compromise the security of the encryption key exchange protocol for LPM, potentially leading to unauthorized access to sensitive data.

2

How can I mitigate the risks of CVE-2021-20505?

To mitigate CVE-2021-20505, it is recommended to upgrade to the latest versions of the PowerVM Hypervisor firmware.

3

Who is affected by CVE-2021-20505?

CVE-2021-20505 affects users of IBM PowerVM Hypervisor firmware versions FW920, FW930, FW940, and FW950.

4

What is the nature of the vulnerability identified in CVE-2021-20505?

CVE-2021-20505 is a vulnerability in the encryption key exchange protocol used during Logical Partition Mobility in IBM PowerVM.

5

Is there a patch available for CVE-2021-20505?

Yes, IBM has released patches for CVE-2021-20505 for affected versions of the PowerVM Hypervisor firmware.

Contact

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