CVE-2023-50326
📋 TL;DR
IBM PowerSC versions 1.3, 2.0, and 2.1 have an inadequate account lockout mechanism that allows remote attackers to perform brute-force attacks against user credentials. This vulnerability affects organizations using these specific IBM PowerSC versions for security management. Attackers can exploit this weakness to gain unauthorized access to PowerSC administrative interfaces.
💻 Affected Systems
- IBM PowerSC
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers gain administrative access to PowerSC, potentially compromising the entire security management infrastructure, manipulating security policies, accessing sensitive system information, and using PowerSC as a foothold for lateral movement.
Likely Case
Attackers gain unauthorized access to PowerSC interfaces, potentially modifying security configurations, accessing audit logs, or using compromised accounts for further attacks within the environment.
If Mitigated
With proper account lockout controls and monitoring, attackers would be blocked after limited attempts, and failed login attempts would trigger alerts for investigation.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires network access to PowerSC interfaces and knowledge of valid usernames. Standard brute-force tools can be used against vulnerable installations.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Apply fixes as specified in IBM Security Bulletin
Vendor Advisory: https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7113759
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Review IBM Security Bulletin for specific fix details. 2. Apply recommended patches or upgrades. 3. Restart PowerSC services. 4. Verify account lockout settings are properly configured post-patch.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Implement Strong Account Lockout Policy
allConfigure PowerSC to lock accounts after a small number of failed attempts (e.g., 5 attempts) with a significant lockout duration (e.g., 30 minutes).
Configure via PowerSC administrative interface: Security Settings > Account Lockout Policy
Network Access Restrictions
linuxRestrict network access to PowerSC interfaces to only trusted administrative networks using firewall rules.
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport [PowerSC_port] -s [trusted_network] -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport [PowerSC_port] -j DROP
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement network segmentation to isolate PowerSC systems from untrusted networks
- Enable detailed logging and monitoring of all authentication attempts with alerting for failed login patterns
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check PowerSC version via administrative interface or command line. Verify account lockout settings allow unlimited or excessive failed attempts.Check Version:
pscadmin version or check via PowerSC web interfaceVerify Fix Applied:
After patching, test account lockout functionality by attempting multiple failed logins to verify accounts lock appropriately.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Multiple failed authentication attempts from single source IP
- Account lockout events followed by successful login from same IP
- Unusual authentication patterns outside business hours
Network Indicators:
- High volume of authentication requests to PowerSC ports
- Brute-force patterns in network traffic
SIEM Query:
source="PowerSC" (event_type="authentication_failure" count by src_ip > 10 within 5m)