# CVE-2018-1992: Memory corruption in Power 9 Systems

> A buffer overflow in the IBM Power 9 bootloader allows attackers to bypass secure boot and execute arbitrary code by replacing the boot firmware image.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.4 (`CVSS:3.0/PR:H/AV:L/S:U/I:H/UI:N/AC:H/A:H/C:H/RC:C/E:U/RL:O`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 21 Mar 2019
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-phhh-x2xq-mff8

## What is CVE-2018-1992?

CVE-2018-1992 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in IBM Power 9 Systems, published on 21 Mar 2019. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The IBM Power 9 OP910, OP920, and FW910 boot firmware's bootloader is responsible for loading and validating the initial boot firmware image that drives the rest of the system's hardware initialization. The bootloader firmware contains a buffer overflow vulnerability such that, if an attacker were able to replace the initial boot firmware image with a very carefully crafted and sufficiently large, malicious replacement, it could cause the bootloader, during the load of that image, to overwrite its own instruction memory and circumvent secure boot protections, install trojans, etc. IBM X-Force ID: 154345.

Weakness: CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-1992?

It affects 11 products.


Products: Ibm Power System Ac922 \(8335-Gtg\) Firmware, Ibm Power System Ac922 \(8335-Gth\) Firmware, Ibm Power System Ac922 \(8335-Gtx\) Firmware, Ibm Power System H922 \(9223-22h\) Firmware, Ibm Power System H924 \(9223-42h\) Firmware, Ibm Power System L922 \(9008-22l\) Firmware, Ibm Power System Lc921 \(9006-12p\) Firmware, Ibm Power System Lc922 \(9006-22p\) Firmware, Ibm Power System S914 \(9009-41a\) Firmware, Ibm Power System S922 \(9009-22a\) Firmware, Ibm Power System S924 \(9009-42a\) Firmware.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-1992?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-1992 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-1992 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-1992 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in IBM Power 9 Systems

- [CVE-2022-22488](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-22488/): IBM OpenBMC denial of service (medium 4.9)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-1992 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-1992 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in IBM Power 9 Systems, published on 21 Mar 2019. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-1992 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: IBM Power 9 Systems. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1992/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1992/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-1992
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-1992
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-1992

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1992/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.