CVE-2022-42436 - Local Information Disclosure in IBM MQ Managed File Transfer – A Deep Dive
When we’re thinking of message queues and enterprise file transfers, IBM MQ stands strong as a backbone in countless organizations. However, even established platforms sometimes have security cracks. In 2022, a vulnerability was found in IBM MQ Managed File Transfer (MFT) – tracked as CVE-2022-42436 and rated with medium severity, with an assigned IBM X-Force ID of 238206. This post will unravel what this vulnerability is about, how a local attacker could exploit it, and what you can do to defend your files.
CVE-2022-42436 impacts IBM MQ Managed File Transfer in all these versions
- 8..
- 9..
9.3.
The core issue? A local user – someone with access to the system – can read sensitive information in certain MQ MFT diagnostic files. These files are generated for troubleshooting and maintenance but might store unencrypted data such as credentials, configuration details, or file transfer paths.
Diagnostic files are created in directories that may have overly broad file permissions.
3. A malicious local user (maybe an underprivileged account or a malicious insider) can browse the file system and _read_ these diagnostic logs.
4. Information such as usernames, source/destination paths, and in rare cases, even passwords (if accidentally logged) could be exposed.
Real-World Impact
The exploit requires local access (so a remote attacker can’t use this directly), but in shared environments (like on-prem servers with multiple users or internal cloud machines) it could be a serious issue.
Here’s a code snippet showing what a diagnostic file might contain on a vulnerable system
2024-06-07 12:00:01.234 Transfer started by user 'deploy_user'
2024-06-07 12:00:01.256 Source Path: /incoming/secret-files/payroll.xlsx
2024-06-07 12:00:01.257 Destination Path: /archive/hr-uploads/payroll.xlsx
2024-06-07 12:00:01.290 Transfer authentication: username=deploy_user, password=s3cr3tP@ss
If diagnostics.log has permissions like -rw-r--r-- (world-readable), any local user can run a simple script to look for juicy info:
grep -i password /opt/mqm/mft/logs/diagnostics.log
Output example
Transfer authentication: username=deploy_user, password=s3cr3tP@ss
`bash
cd /opt/mqm/mft/logs/
`bash
chmod 600 /opt/mqm/mft/logs/diagnostics.log
chown mqm:mqm /opt/mqm/mft/logs/diagnostics.log
IBM Security Bulletin (original advisory):
- IBM X-Force Advisory – CVE-2022-42436
Mitre NVD entry:
IBM MQ Managed File Transfer documentation:
Final Thoughts
Information disclosure bugs like CVE-2022-42436 remind us that security isn’t just about keeping out outsiders – it’s about hardening the house from the inside out, too. Audit your servers for loose diagnostics, patch up as per IBM’s guidance, and always guard sensitive logs like digital gold.
If you’re running IBM MQ Managed File Transfer, patch now, clean up logs, and make sure only trusted users have access to your systems – or the next “insider” could walk away with your secrets.
*Written exclusively for your deep-dive reading. Stay alert, stay patched!*
Timeline
Published on: 02/12/2023 04:15:00 UTC
Last modified on: 02/21/2023 19:17:00 UTC