CVE-2026-16842
Vulnerabilities in IBM AIX and PowerVM VIOS
02 Description
Vulnerabilities in IBM AIX and PowerVM VIOS
03 Exploitation and scoring
- Exploitation
- Assessed, none found. CISA's assessment recorded neither public exploit code nor evidence of exploitation when it was made.
- SSVC decision
- ExploitationnoneCISA recorded no public exploit code and no evidence of exploitation.
- AutomatablenoAt least one step from reconnaissance to exploitation cannot be reliably automated.
- Technical ImpacttotalSuccessful exploitation gives total control of the vulnerable component.
- EPSS probability
- 0.50% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days.
- EPSS percentile
- Equal to or higher than the score of 42.5% of scored records. A rank, not a probability.
- NVD base score
- 8.8 (CVSS v3.x), scored by the NVD independently of the CNA.
- NVD CVSS vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- NVD analysis status
- Analyzed. NVD last modified this record on 2026-10-26.
- Red Hat severity
- No Red Hat rating. Red Hat rates the CVEs that affect its products.
Exploit-prediction scores from FIRST. Independent scoring and analysis status from the NVD. Vendor severity from Red Hat. Exploitation assessment and catalog membership from CISA.
04 Metadata
- Published
- 2026-08-19 19:31Z2 MO AGO
- Last updated
- 2026-08-22 03:55Z2 MO AGO
- Reserved
- 2026-07-24
- Assigning CNA
- ibm
- Record state
- PUBLISHED
- Severity
- High (CVSS 8.8)
- CNA CVSS vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Weaknesses
- CWE-78Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection')Base
- Data version
- 5.2
- Document digest
- 17a22fc898ed1ba86bd436830c7f4ec75e45336907003556d19e1e354a5e45fe
05 Affected products
06 References
07 Remediation
A. APARS IBM has assigned the following APARs to this problem: AIX LevelAPARAvailability SPKEY7.2.5IJ5956608/14/2026SP13key_w_apar7.3.2IJ5956508/14/2026SP05key_w_apar7.3.3IJ5956408/14/2026SP03key_w_apar7.3.4IJ59563 08/14/2026SP02key_w_apar VIOS LevelAPARAvailability SPKEY4.1.0IJ5956508/14/20264.1.0.50key_w_apar4.1.1IJ5956408/14/20264.1.1.30key_w_apar4.1.2IJ5956308/14/20264.1.2.20key_w_apar B. FIXES IBM strongly recommends addressing the vulnerability now. AIX and VIOS fixes are available and can be downloaded from Fix Central: https://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral An LPAR reboot is required to complete the SP/FP update. On AIX, Live Update can be used to avoid a reboot. IBM has assigned the following AIX Service Packs (SPs) and VIOS Fix Packs (FPs) as the remediation levels for the published vulnerabilities. AIX Level Service PackAIX 7.3 TL04SP2AIX 7.3 TL03SP3AIX 7.3 TL02SP5AIX 7.2 TL05 SP13 PowerVM VIOS LevelFix PackVIOS 4.1.2 4.1.2.20VIOS 4.1.1 4.1.1.30VIOS 4.1.0 4.1.0.50 Note: These SPs/FPs are cumulative and include fixes for all previously published AIX/VIOS security vulnerabilities. They can be applied on top of any earlier affected level of the TL . Note: To apply these patches using nimsh secure, special steps must be taken as the protocol between master and client is updated to be more secure. Please read this article: https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7283157 Note: For VIOS 4.1.0 and VIOS 4.1.1, additional steps are required to migrate to the