CVE-2026-16973 Vulnerabilities in IBM AIX and PowerVM VIOS
Medium 5.5
Published
Updated
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-16973 and fix it if it is affected.
What it is: CVE-2026-16973 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Ibm Aix, published on 20 Aug 2026. 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-2026-16973 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Affected product: Ibm Aix. 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-2026-16973/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-16973/index.md)
A local attacker can disclose sensitive kernel memory via an out-of-bounds read in IBM AIX and PowerVM VIOS.
- 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-2026-16973?
CVE-2026-16973 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Ibm Aix, published on 20 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 disclose sensitive kernel memory due to an out-of-bounds read.
Weakness: CWE-200
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-16973?
It affects 2 products.
How do I fix CVE-2026-16973?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-16973 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Is CVE-2026-16973 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-16973 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Ibm Aix
Sources
Also known as GHSA-4fgj-wp8f-5927.