CVE-2026-16898 IBM i is Affected By Multiple Vulnerabilities in Network Authentication Service
A local authenticated attacker can change ownership of arbitrary files on IBM i due to improper path validation, potentially leading to privilege escalation.
- 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-2026-16898?
CVE-2026-16898 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in Ibm I, published on 13 Aug 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
IBM i 7.6, 7.5, 7.4, and 7.3 could allow a local authenticated attacker to change the ownership of arbitrary files due to improper validation of an attacker-controlled file path.
Weakness: CWE-73
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-16898?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Ibm I.
How do I fix CVE-2026-16898?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-16898 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.
Is CVE-2026-16898 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-16898 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Ibm I
- CVE-2026-96119 IBM i is Affected By An Improper Control of Code Generation Vulnerability in HTTP Server Administration GUI
- CVE-2026-16860 IBM i is Affected By Remote Code Execution Vulnerability []
- CVE-2026-17083 IBM i is Affected By Multiple Vulnerabilities in the Debug Server
- CVE-2026-17218 IBM i is Affected By Remote Code Execution Vulnerability in Line Printer Daemon []
- CVE-2026-17276 IBM i is Affected By Multiple Vulnerabilities in Navigator for i
Sources
Also known as GHSA-rfp4-533m-42vc.