About this vulnerability:
- The zero-day critical vulnerability of Apache Log4j2 is disclosed recently, and the CVE is published as CVE-2021-44228. For details see: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-44228
- Apache Log4j2 is a Java-based logging library which is used by ALM and Octane application server and QIS (AKA: Global Search).
 
Security Impact:
- The issue concerns a case of unauthenticated, remote code execution (RCE). It is possible to execute malicious code and allow a complete takeover of vulnerable systems.
 
Affected Products:
- ALM/QC 15.5.0, 15.5.1 (SP1), 15.5.1 Patch 01, 15.5.1 Patch02, 16.0.0
- ALM Quality Insight – 1.0
- ALM Global Search - 15.5, 15.0.1, 12.60
Note: Global Search and Quality Insight are independent services which require separate installation from ALM

Products not affected:
- ALM Synchronizer (a.k.a: Gossip)
- ALI, EI, MC extensions
- Jira plugin
- ALM Explorer, ALM Client launcher, WebRunner, QoT, MSI Generator

Mitigation Plan:
- For affected ALM versions, the previously indicated mitigation approach of disabling the log4j2 lookup feature is insufficient to handle this CVE. For information, see https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-45046    
- We strongly advise you to mitigate this issue by using the hotfix that updates Log4j to version 2.17.1. For more information, please go to this link

- For the affected Quality Insight and Global Search, please follow instructions:
  - Global Search
  - Quality Insight
  - For ALM SaaS, all servers are patched

Summary of recent vulnerabilities and recommended mitigation method:
- CVE-2021-44228:
  - Update Log4j to version 2.16 and later, link

- CVE-2021-45046:
  - Update Log4j to version 2.16 and later, link

- CVE-2021-45105: 
  - ALM/Quality Center does not use the "non-default Pattern Layout with a Context Lookup" in Log4j in default configuration settings, so ALM is not affected, however, if the user customized the configuration and used this function, please review the mitigation method from here

If assistance in implementing the mitigation is needed please open a support ticket with Micro Focus Support