Description

IBM i 7.6, 7.5, 7.4, and 7.3 could allow a remote attacker to obtain sensitive information due to an out-of-bounds read.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "5.3",
  "pubDate": "2026-08-13T20:17:15.450Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-08-13T20:17:15.450Z",
  "executiveSummary": "An out-of-bounds read vulnerability has been identified in IBM i versions 7.6, 7.5, 7.4, and 7.3, posing a security risk to organizations utilizing these operating system releases.\nThe vulnerability allows a remote attacker to harvest sensitive information from memory by triggering boundary condition errors within vulnerable components of the system.\nThe primary impact of successful exploitation is the unauthorized disclosure of confidential data, which may include internal memory contents, system state information, or other sensitive operational data processed by the affected software.\nThe risk implications involve potential compromise of data confidentiality, potentially aiding attackers in performing subsequent, more targeted attacks against the infrastructure.\nExploitation requires network access by a remote attacker capable of interacting with the vulnerable services exposed by the IBM i operating system.\nSpecific advanced exploitation requirements or complex preconditions are governed by the exact nature of the out-of-bounds read flaw within the affected binaries, though remote connectivity to the service is a prerequisite for network-based attacks.",
  "technicalDetails": "The root cause of the vulnerability stems from improper bounds checking within memory handling operations, leading to an out-of-bounds read condition.\nWhen processing maliciously crafted inputs or requests, the vulnerable component fails to adequately validate input lengths or array indices prior to executing memory read operations.\nThis programmatic oversight allows application logic to read memory addresses located outside the intended allocated buffer boundaries.\nThe affected components reside within IBM i versions 7.6, 7.5, 7.4, and 7.3.\nNetwork exposure is present as the flaw can be leveraged by a remote attacker interacting with the listening services exposed by the operating system.\nThe attack flow begins when the remote attacker transmits a specially crafted request or payload designed to trigger the boundary condition failure within the targeted parsing or processing routine.\nUpon receiving the malicious input, the vulnerable routine executes the out-of-bounds read, accessing adjacent memory regions that may contain sensitive operational data.\nThe system or application then processes this read data, potentially echoing fragments of the leaked memory back to the attacker within response structures or error logs, thereby facilitating payload behavior focused on data exfiltration.\nPost-exploitation impact is characterized primarily by information disclosure, where the acquired sensitive data can be analyzed by the attacker to map memory layouts, bypass other defensive controls, or extract credentials and configuration secrets residing in process memory.\nAuthentication and privilege requirements depend on the specific network service exposed to the out-of-bounds condition, but the vulnerability inherently enables unauthorized information access across the network boundary."
}