CVE-2026-16838 Vulnerabilities in IBM AIX and PowerVM VIOS

High 7.0 Published 19 Aug 2026 Updated 26 Aug 2026

A local attacker can exploit a race condition in IBM AIX and PowerVM VIOS to overwrite critical files and access sensitive information.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Any signed-in user
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: None listed

What is CVE-2026-16838?

CVE-2026-16838 is a high-severity vulnerability in Ibm Aix, published on 19 Aug 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

IBM AIX 7.2, and 7.3 and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1 could allow a local attacker to overwrite critical files and obtain sensitive information due to a time-of-check to time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition.

Weakness: CWE-367

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-16838?

It affects 2 products.

Products include Ibm Aix, Ibm Vios.

How do I fix CVE-2026-16838?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-16838 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Is CVE-2026-16838 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-16838 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Ibm Aix vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as GHSA-4cv2-jwvj-h9m8.