Description

IBM AIX 7.2, and 7.3 and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1 could allow a local attacker to execute arbitrary code due to an out-of-bounds read.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "7.8",
  "pubDate": "2026-08-20T22:17:12.850Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-08-20T22:17:12.850Z",
  "executiveSummary": "An out-of-bounds read vulnerability has been identified in IBM AIX and IBM PowerVM VIOS, presenting a local security risk to enterprise environments. This vulnerability allows a locally authenticated threat actor to potentially execute arbitrary code or trigger denial-of-service conditions within the operating system environment.\nThe affected products include IBM AIX versions 7.2 and 7.3, alongside IBM PowerVM VIOS version 4.1. The primary impact involves memory disclosure and unauthorized code execution capabilities arising from improper bounds checking during data processing.\nExploitation of this vulnerability requires local access to the target system. Threat actors must possess local user privileges to interact with the vulnerable component and supply maliciously crafted inputs designed to trigger the out-of-bounds read condition.\nThe risk implications are significant for multi-tenant or shared enterprise systems where low-privileged users could escalate privileges or extract sensitive kernel or process memory. Mitigation requires applying official vendor patches and adhering to standard local security hardening practices to restrict unauthorized local code execution.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability stems from an out-of-bounds read flaw within the memory management or input processing routines of the affected operating systems. Specifically, the vulnerable component fails to adequately validate index or size boundaries when reading data structures, leading to memory access operations beyond the allocated buffer boundaries.\nThe root cause is attributable to insufficient boundary validation logic in the affected code paths of IBM AIX 7.2, 7.3, and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1. When an application or system process parses specially crafted inputs provided by a local user, the lack of rigorous bounds checking permits the reading of adjacent memory regions.\nTo exploit this vulnerability, an attacker must possess local access to the target system with sufficient privileges to interact with the vulnerable system call, driver, or binary. The attack flow begins with the preparation of a specialized payload or input vector designed to manipulate the memory offset or read length parameters expected by the vulnerable routine.\nUpon execution of the malicious input, the vulnerable component attempts to read memory from an invalid address location outside the designated buffer. Depending on the exact execution context and memory layout, this out-of-bounds read can be leveraged to leak sensitive kernel or application memory contents, or potentially chained with other memory corruption weaknesses to facilitate arbitrary code execution.\nThe network exposure for this vulnerability is strictly local, as remote exploitation vectors are not supported by the underlying mechanics of the flaw. Authentication is required in the form of a valid local user account, and execution privileges are bound by the access control lists and permission models governing the vulnerable binary or interface. Post-exploitation impact includes potential privilege escalation, unauthorized access to confidential data residing in memory, and system instability resulting in localized denial of service."
}