Description

IBM AIX 7.2, and 7.3 and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1 could allow a remote attacker to obtain sensitive information due to a path traversal vulnerability.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "3.7",
  "pubDate": "2026-08-19T20:17:09.727Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-08-19T20:17:09.727Z",
  "executiveSummary": "A path traversal vulnerability exists within IBM AIX 7.2, 7.3, and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1, which can be exploited by a remote attacker to obtain sensitive information from the underlying system.\nThis security flaw represents a significant risk to organizational confidentiality, as unauthorized retrieval of critical files could expose configuration data, system credentials, or internal operational details.\nThe vulnerability stems from improper input validation within the affected software components, allowing unauthorized traversal of the filesystem hierarchy.\nA remote attacker with network access to the vulnerable service can leverage specially crafted requests containing directory traversal sequences (such as dot-dot-slash) to bypass access controls and retrieve arbitrary files outside of the intended web root or accessible directory structure.\nSuccessful exploitation requires network connectivity to the target system and does not inherently depend on specialized prior authentication, depending on the specific attack surface exposure.\nMitigation requires applying the appropriate vendor-supplied security fixes or patches as soon as they become available from IBM Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT).",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability is fundamentally rooted in insufficient sanitization and validation of user-supplied input that is directly or indirectly utilized in file system operations.\nSpecifically, the affected components in IBM AIX 7.2, 7.3, and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1 fail to adequately neutralize path traversal sequences, such as relative path symbols, allowing callers to escape the intended operational sandbox.\nThe attack vector involves network-based interactions where an unauthenticated or remotely authenticated attacker transmits a maliciously crafted HTTP request or network protocol payload containing directory traversal sequences to the vulnerable daemon or service.\nUpon receipt, the vulnerable component processes the tainted input parameter, concatenating it with the base directory path without enforcing rigorous canonicalization checks.\nBecause the application resolves the path using standard system APIs without restricting the resulting absolute path to the permitted root directory, the file system subsystem evaluates the traversal directives and accesses files located elsewhere on the host system.\nThe attacker can systematically target sensitive configuration files, system scripts, or logs depending on the execution privileges of the vulnerable service process.\nOnce the file is accessed, the contents are read and reflected back to the attacker in the server response, resulting in unauthorized information disclosure.\nThe affected versions include IBM AIX 7.2, IBM AIX 7.3, and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1.\nPost-exploitation impact is characterized primarily by confidentiality loss, where harvested system information can be utilized by adversaries to mount subsequent targeted attacks, escalate privileges, or facilitate lateral movement within the enterprise environment."
}