CVE-2026-17097 Power System Improper Validation

High 7.3 Published 19 Aug 2026 Updated 20 Aug 2026

A local attacker with root access can cause a virtual processor to hang and potentially corrupt memory via a crafted hypervisor call.

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-2026-17097?

CVE-2026-17097 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in IBM PowerVM Hypervisor, 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 PowerVM Hypervisor FW1120.00, FW1110.00 through FW1110.30, FW1060.00 through FW1060.80, and FW950.00 through FW950.H2 is affected by a vulnerability in the PowerVM hypervisor call interface. An attacker with root access to a guest partition can issue a specially crafted hypervisor call causing a virtual processor to become permanently unresponsive, requiring a full platform re-IPL to restore normal operation. In some cases this may also cause the guest to inject a small amount of data into hypervisor or partition memory with no attacker control over the target location. Successful exploitation results in an integrity and availability impact to the managed system.

Weakness: CWE-129

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-17097?

It affects 26 products.

Products include Ibm Power System E1050 \(9043-Mrx\) Firmware, Ibm Power System E1080 \(9080-Hex\) Firmware, Ibm Power System E1150 \(9043-Mru\) Firmware, Ibm Power System E1180 \(9080-Heu\) Firmware, Ibm Power System E950 \(9040-Mr9\) Firmware, Ibm Power System E980 \(9080-M9s\) Firmware and 20 more.

How do I fix CVE-2026-17097?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-17097 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2026-17097 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-17097 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Sources

Also known as GHSA-h5jm-cv9m-pvc4.