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Power 5 System FirmwareOperating system · Ibm

CVE-2012-4856

HIGH · 7.9 CVSS v2.0 Published 2012-12-20
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
The Service Processor in the IBM Power 5 91##-### and 940#-### before SF240_418_382 does not ensure that firewall code is executed, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

The Service Processor (SP) on IBM Power 5 systems (91##-### and 940#-### models) fails to ensure that firewall code is properly executed. The Service Processor is a dedicated controller managing hardware console access, monitoring, and security functions. When the firewall enforcement is not reliably executed, remote attackers can bypass this security boundary and execute arbitrary code on the system.

MitigationApply IBM Service Processor firmware update SF240_418_382 or later, which ensures proper firewall code execution. This is a critical firmware-level fix that must be applied through the Hardware Management Console (HMC) or IBM service tools.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Power 5 System FirmwareOperating system
Affected:<= sf240_418= sf240_201_201= sf240_202_201= sf240_219_201= sf240_222_201= sf240_233_201= sf240_258_201= sf240_259_201= sf240_261_201= sf240_284_201= sf240_298_201= sf240_299_201
Power 5Hardware / appliance
Affected:= 9110-51a= 9110-510= 9111-285= 9111-520= 9113-550= 9115-505= 9116-561= 9117-570= 9118-575= 9123-710= 9124-720= 9131-52a

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Adjacent
Complexity
M
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:A/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Power 5 system model
    Locate the machine type and model number on the system unit or use the Hardware Management Console (HMC) to query the system. Common locations include the system chassis label, HMC system summary, or output from 'lsrsrc' command on HMC.
    Affected if The model number matches one of the affected: 9110-51a, 9110-510, 9111-285, 9111-520, 9113-550, 9115-505, 9116-561, 9117-570, 9118-575, 9123-710, 9124-720, or 9131-52a
  2. Retrieve Service Processor firmware version
    Access the HMC and navigate to the Service Processor firmware information, or use the ASMI (Advanced System Management Interface) via the SP's web interface. On HMC, use the command 'lsrefcode -m <machine> -t sys' to retrieve firmware levels.
    Affected if The firmware version is one of the listed affected versions: sf240_418, sf240_201_201, sf240_202_201, sf240_219_201, sf240_222_201, sf240_233_201, sf240_258_201, sf240_259_201, sf240_261_201, sf240_284_201, sf240_298_201, or sf240_299_201
  3. Verify firewall enforcement status
    Log into ASMI (Advanced System Management Interface) at the SP IP address and navigate to Service Processor > Firewall Settings. Alternatively, from HMC use 'chsyscfg' or the GUI to check if firewall protection is enabled and properly enforced.
    Affected if Firewall is disabled, not properly configured, or the status shows that enforcement is not reliably active

The system is affected if it is an IBM Power 5 model from the list AND runs a Service Processor firmware version in the affected set, particularly if the firewall enforcement is not confirmed as reliable.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply IBM Service Processor firmware update SF240_418_382 or later, which ensures proper firewall code execution. This is a critical firmware-level fix that must be applied through the Hardware Management Console (HMC) or IBM service tools.

Fix this in Power 5 System Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2012-4856 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
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