# CVE-2023-40686: IBM i privilege escalation

> A local attacker with command line access can exploit a vulnerability in IBM i Navigator to elevate privileges and gain component access to the operating system.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.9 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 29 Oct 2023
- **Updated:** 6 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-fp4h-xp3p-fwp7

## What is CVE-2023-40686?

CVE-2023-40686 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Ibm I, published on 29 Oct 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Management Central as part of IBM i 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, and 7.5 Navigator contains a local privilege escalation vulnerability.  A malicious actor with command line access to the operating system can exploit this vulnerability to elevate privileges to gain component access to the operating system.  IBM X-Force ID:  264114.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-40686?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Ibm I.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-40686?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-40686 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-40686 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-40686 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Ibm I

- [CVE-2026-96119](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-96119/): IBM i is Affected By An Improper Control of Code Generation Vulnerability in HTTP Server Administration GUI (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2026-16860](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-16860/): IBM i is Affected By Remote Code Execution Vulnerability [] (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2026-17083](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-17083/): IBM i is Affected By Multiple Vulnerabilities in the Debug Server (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-17218](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-17218/): IBM i is Affected By Remote Code Execution Vulnerability in Line Printer Daemon [] (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-17276](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-17276/): IBM i is Affected By Multiple Vulnerabilities in Navigator for i (critical 9.6)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-40686 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-40686 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Ibm I, published on 29 Oct 2023. 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-2023-40686 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Ibm I. 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-2023-40686/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-40686/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-40686
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-40686
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-40686

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-40686/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.