dbcve.org
AixOperating system · Ibm

CVE-2017-1541

HIGH · 7.3 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-10-04
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
82/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable 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
A flaw in the AIX 5.3, 6.1, 7.1, and 7.2 JRE/SDK installp and updatep packages prevented the java.security, java.policy and javaws.policy files from being updated correctly. IBM X-Force ID: 130809.

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

A flaw in the AIX 5.3, 6.1, 7.1, and 7.2 JRE/SDK installp and updatep packages prevents the java.security, java.policy, and javaws.policy files from being updated correctly during installation or patching operations. This means security configuration changes and policy updates are not applied, potentially leaving systems with outdated or inconsistent Java security settings.

MitigationAdministrators should manually verify and update the java.security, java.policy, and javaws.policy files after any JRE/SDK package operations, or reapply updates using alternative methods to ensure security policies are current.

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
AixOperating system
Affected:= 5.3= 6.1= 7.1= 7.2

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
Low

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L

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. Confirm AIX version is affected
    Run 'oslevel -s' to check the installed AIX version. The vulnerability affects versions 5.3, 6.1, 7.1, and 7.2.
    Affected if The AIX version is 5.3, 6.1, 7.1, or 7.2
  2. Verify JRE/SDK is installed
    Run 'lslpp -l | grep -i java' to list installed Java-related packages. Also check 'lslpp -l | grep -i jre' and 'lslpp -l | grep -i sdk'.
    Affected if Any JRE or SDK package from IBM is installed on an affected AIX version
  3. Locate Java security policy files
    Find java.security, java.policy, and javaws.policy files using 'find /usr -name java.security -o -name java.policy -o -name javaws.policy 2>/dev/null'. Typical paths include /usr/java*/jre/lib/security/.
    Affected if These policy files exist on the system and were meant to be updated by installp/updatep operations
  4. Check if policy files reflect post-update state
    Compare the content of java.security, java.policy, and javaws.policy against expected baseline versions. Look for missing security configurations, absent policy grants, or outdated settings that should have been applied by recent JRE/SDK patches.
    Affected if The policy files contain outdated or missing security configurations compared to what the installed package version should provide
  5. Verify policy file timestamps against package updates
    Run 'lslpp -L <java_package_name>' to see when JRE/SDK packages were last updated. Compare with 'ls -la <path_to_policy_files>' timestamps. If packages were updated but file timestamps are old, the update likely failed.
    Affected if JRE/SDK packages show recent installation or update timestamps but the policy files have older timestamps, indicating the files were not updated during the package operation

A user is affected if they are running AIX 5.3, 6.1, 7.1, or 7.2 with any IBM JRE/SDK installed, and the java.security, java.policy, or javaws.policy files were not updated after the last installation or patching operation.

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

Administrators should manually verify and update the java.security, java.policy, and javaws.policy files after any JRE/SDK package operations, or reapply updates using alternative methods to ensure security policies are current.

Fix this in Aix Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2017-1541 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data