Elastic Storage SystemApplication · Ibm

CVE-2023-30434

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-05-05
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.1.2.6 / 6.1.6.1 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

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
IBM Storage Scale (IBM Spectrum Scale 5.1.0.0 through 5.1.2.9, 5.1.3.0 through 5.1.6.1 and IBM Elastic Storage Systems 6.1.0.0 through 6.1.2.5, 6.1.3.0 through 6.1.6.0) could allow a local user to cause a kernel panic. IBM X-Force ID: 252187.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-20

The application accepts input without confirming it is well-formed or within expected bounds, so malformed data can push the program into states its author never anticipated. Attackers probe these gaps to trigger crashes, bypass logic, or feed tainted values into more dangerous operations downstream. Remediating it well means validating and normalising every input at the boundary against a strict allow-list — not merely filtering known-bad values.

General guidance for the improper input validation class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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
Elastic Storage SystemApplication
Affected:>= 6.1.0.0, < 6.1.2.6>= 6.1.3.0, < 6.1.6.1
Spectrum ScaleApplication
Affected:>= 5.1.0.0, <= 5.1.2.9>= 5.1.3.0, <= 5.1.6.1

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 6.1.2.6 / 6.1.6.1 or later
Fixed in 6.1.2.66.1.6.1
Vendor patch www.ibm.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

IBM Spectrum Scale 5.1.2.10+ / 5.1.6.2+ OR IBM Elastic Storage System 6.1.2.6+ / 6.1.6.1+

  1. 1. Identify the exact version of IBM Spectrum Scale or Elastic Storage System currently installed using 'mmgetversion' or system inventory.
  2. 2. Access the IBM support page at https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6988363 to obtain the appropriate interim fix or PTF (Program Temporary Fix).
  3. 3. For IBM Spectrum Scale 5.1.x: Upgrade to version 5.1.2.10 or later, OR version 5.1.6.2 or later, depending on your release train.
  4. 4. For IBM Elastic Storage System 6.1.x: Upgrade to version 6.1.2.6 or later, OR version 6.1.6.1 or later, depending on your release train.
  5. 5. Schedule a maintenance window and follow IBM's standard upgrade procedures for your specific deployment (cluster size, GUI or CLI-based upgrade).
  6. 6. After upgrade, verify the kernel panic vulnerability is resolved by confirming the system boots with the new version and testing basic filesystem operations.
  7. 7. Review IBM's release notes for the target version to ensure compatibility with your existing workloads and any dependent software.
Caveat Standard IBM Spectrum Scale/ESS upgrade precautions apply - ensure cluster is healthy before upgrading, back up configuration, and test in non-production environment first if possible

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,600. Get the upgrade done

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-30434 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

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-2023-30434 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
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