Description

IBM i 7.6, 7.5, 7.4, and 7.3 could allow a remote authenticated attacker to bypass security restrictions due to unsafe reflection.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "8.3",
  "pubDate": "2026-08-12T17:17:24.570Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-08-12T17:17:24.570Z",
  "executiveSummary": "A security vulnerability involving unsafe reflection exists within IBM i versions 7.6, 7.5, 7.4, and 7.3. This flaw allows a remote authenticated attacker to successfully bypass established security restrictions within the operating system environment. The vulnerability stems from improper handling of reflection mechanisms, which can be manipulated by malicious actors to execute unauthorized operations or access restricted functions that should normally be protected by access control mechanisms. The business impact includes a potential compromise of system integrity and unauthorized privilege escalation within the affected application context. Exploitation of this vulnerability requires the attacker to possess valid authentication credentials to the target system, meaning unauthenticated external entities cannot directly exploit this flaw without prior access. Risk implications remain significant for environments where internal user privileges are not strictly bounded or where malicious authenticated users attempt to elevate their capabilities. Remediation requires applying official vendor-supplied fixes or security bulletins as they become available from IBM to address the underlying unsafe reflection flaws.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability is characterized by an unsafe reflection flaw present in IBM i 7.6, 7.5, 7.4, and 7.3. Reflection mechanisms in software development allow inspecting and modifying runtime application behavior, classes, interfaces, fields, and methods. When these mechanisms fail to properly validate inputs or enforce access restrictions before invoking internal methods or instantiating objects, they introduce severe security risks. In this specific case, the affected component processes incoming method calls or object instantiations via reflection without robustly verifying whether the authenticated user possesses the authorization to access the targeted internal APIs or functions. The attack flow initiates when a remote authenticated attacker leverages their established session to submit a crafted payload designed to interact with vulnerable reflection endpoints or routines. Because the underlying codebase improperly trusts the reflection inputs, the application dynamically resolves and executes restricted internal classes, methods, or procedures that bypass standard authorization checks. This enables the attacker to circumvent security boundaries and perform operations outside the scope of their assigned privileges. Prerequisites for successful exploitation include network exposure of the vulnerable service and valid authentication credentials, allowing the attacker to interact with the vulnerable application logic. The post-exploitation impact includes unauthorized execution of administrative or restricted functions, potential data exposure, and localized integrity violations within the IBM i operating system environment, depending on the exact context and permissions accessible through the reflection vector."
}