April 27, 2023 - Alert: Database and Journal Corruption when Using Encryption

InterSystems has corrected a defect that can cause corruption of databases and journal files on AIX systems with IBM POWER8 or later POWER processors. This defect can be triggered only when database or journal encryption is in use.

 To trigger this defect, the following conditions are required:

• The environment uses database or journal encryption
• The environment also uses data-element encryption
• An encryption key used for data-element encryption has been deactivated

If the environment satisfies all these conditions, then the key schedule used for database or journal encryption can become corrupted.

The defect exists in the following products and any InterSystems offerings based on them:

• InterSystems IRIS® – all versions except 2022.1.3 and 2023.1
• InterSystems IRIS for Health™ – all versions except 2022.1.3 and 2023.1
• HealthShare® Health Connect – all versions except 2022.1.3 and 2023.1
• HealthShare® solutions – all versions

Note that this defect does not directly affect HealthShare solutions because they do not use the data-element encryption feature. However, if a HealthShare environment has a customization that uses the data-element encryption feature as described above, then they must follow the remediations provided in this alert.   

• InterSystems Caché® and InterSystems Ensemble® – all versions starting with 2015.1

The correction for this defect is identified as RJF540 and will be included in all future versions.

The correction is also available via Ad hoc distribution.

If you have any questions regarding this alert, please contact the Worldwide Response Center.