# CVE-2026-17042: Power System Out-of-bounds Read

> A root user in a guest partition can crash the host firmware via crafted NVRAM, causing denial of service and potential memory corruption on OpenPOWER systems.

- **Severity:** High 7.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 19 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-rcv3-hw8m-43fg

## What is CVE-2026-17042?

CVE-2026-17042 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in IBM Power Systems Firmware, 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 Power Systems Firmware FW950.00 through FW950.H2, OP940.00 through OP940.a1 (Power9), and OP940.00 - OP940.81 (Power HMC) is affected by a vulnerability in host firmware NVRAM parsing. An attacker with root access to a guest partition on an OpenPOWER system can write a specially crafted NVRAM image, causing the host firmware boot stage to crash with possible memory corruption. This condition persists until operator intervention — clearing NVRAM via the service processor — to restore normal operation. This vulnerability only affects OpenPOWER systems; systems running PowerVM are not affected. Successful exploitation results in an integrity and availability impact to the managed system.

Weakness: CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-17042?

It affects 10 products.


Products: Ibm Power Hardware Management Console \(7063-Cr2\) Firmware, Ibm Power System Ac922 \(8335-Gth\) Firmware, Ibm Power System Ac922 \(8335-Gtx\) Firmware, Ibm Power System E950 \(9040-Mr9\) Firmware, Ibm Power System E980 \(9080-M9s\) Firmware, Ibm Power System H922 \(9223-22s\) Firmware, Ibm Power System H924 \(9223-42s\) Firmware, Ibm Power System S914 \(9009-41g\) Firmware, Ibm Power System S922 \(9009-22g\) Firmware, Ibm Power System S924 \(9009-42g\) Firmware.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-17042?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-17042 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-17042 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-17042 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in IBM Power Systems Firmware

- [CVE-2026-16933](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-16933/): Power System Integer Overflow (high 8.2)
- [CVE-2026-17093](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-17093/): Power System Buffer Overflow (high 8.2)
- [CVE-2026-17100](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-17100/): Power System Out-of-bounds Write (high 8.2)
- [CVE-2026-17429](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-17429/): Power System Incorrect Authorization (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2021-38960](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-38960/): Information disclosure in HMC (medium 5.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-17042 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-17042 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in IBM Power Systems Firmware, published on 19 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-2026-17042 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: IBM Power Systems Firmware. 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-2026-17042/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-17042/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-17042
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-17042
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-17042

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-17042/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.