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IBM AIX CVE-2026-16872

| EUVDEUVD-2026-62756 CRITICAL
Stack-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-121)
2026-08-19 ibm GHSA-mm39-wv8x-4288
9.8
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: ibm
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Severity by source

Vendor (ibm) PRIMARY
9.8 CRITICAL
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
vuln.today AI
9.8 CRITICAL

Description states a remote attacker can execute arbitrary code via a stack overflow with no stated auth or interaction, so AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N with full C/I/A impact.

3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
4.0 AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Primary rating from Vendor (ibm).

CVSS VectorVendor: ibm

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

2
Analysis Generated
Aug 19, 2026 - 20:31 vuln.today
CVE Published
Aug 19, 2026 - 19:40 nvd
CRITICAL 9.8

DescriptionCVE.org

IBM AIX 7.2, and 7.3 and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1 could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code due to a stack-based buffer overflow.

AnalysisAI

Remote code execution in IBM AIX 7.2/7.3 and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1 stems from a stack-based buffer overflow (CWE-121) that a network attacker can trigger without authentication or user interaction. Because the flaw carries a CVSS 9.8 with an AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N vector, a successful attack yields full compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability on affected enterprise UNIX hosts and virtualization I/O servers. There is no public exploit identified at time of analysis, and IBM (the reporter) has released a fix.

Technical ContextAI

IBM AIX is IBM's proprietary UNIX operating system for POWER-architecture servers, and PowerVM VIOS (Virtual I/O Server) is the appliance partition that virtualizes storage and network I/O for LPARs on the same platform; the CPE data (cpe:2.3:a:ibm:aix and cpe:2.3:a:ibm:powervm_vios) confirms both share the affected component. The root cause is CWE-121, a stack-based buffer overflow: attacker-controlled input is copied into a fixed-size stack buffer without adequate bounds checking, allowing the return address or adjacent stack data to be overwritten and control flow to be hijacked. On a networked service this typically means a crafted request to a listening daemon overflows the buffer and diverts execution into attacker-supplied code, though the specific vulnerable service/daemon is not named in the available data.

RemediationAI

Patch available per vendor advisory: apply the IBM-provided fix documented at https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7283858, which covers AIX 7.2, AIX 7.3, and PowerVM VIOS 4.1 - the input does not disclose an exact patched build string, so pull the precise APAR/interim-fix or service-pack level from that page rather than assuming a version. Prioritize VIOS instances and any AIX hosts exposing network services to untrusted segments. Until patching completes, reduce exposure by restricting network reachability to the affected service (host-based ipfilter/firewall rules or upstream ACLs limiting access to management/trusted subnets) and placing AIX and VIOS management interfaces on isolated administrative VLANs; the trade-off is that overly broad network restrictions can disrupt legitimate I/O virtualization or administrative traffic, so scope rules to the specific listening service and validate in a maintenance window.

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CVE-2026-16872 vulnerability details – vuln.today

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