Description

IBM Administration Runtime Expert for i 1R1M0 IBM Application Runtime Expert (ARE) for i could allow a remote attacker to gain elevated privileges, caused by ARE GUI component processing. An unauthenticated attacker can exploit this vulnerability to execute actions under another user's authenticated profile gaining elevated privileges on the IBM i system.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "9.9",
  "pubDate": "2026-08-28T22:16:46.620Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-08-28T22:16:46.620Z",
  "executiveSummary": "This vulnerability involves a critical privilege escalation flaw within the IBM Application Runtime Expert (ARE) for i 1R1M0 GUI component.\nThe vulnerability is classified as an authorization bypass, allowing unauthenticated remote attackers to perform actions under the security context of an already authenticated user profile.\nSuccessful exploitation grants the attacker the privilege level of the targeted victim, effectively allowing unauthorized command execution or administrative actions within the IBM i system.\nGiven that the vulnerability requires no authentication, the risk to system integrity and confidentiality is severe.\nAttackers can leverage this flaw to move laterally or gain full system control if a high-privileged user interacts with the compromised interface.",
  "technicalDetails": "The root cause of this vulnerability lies in the improper management of session context and request validation within the IBM Application Runtime Expert (ARE) for i GUI component. Specifically, the component fails to adequately verify the authenticity of incoming requests, allowing an attacker to inject or replay actions that appear to originate from an authorized, authenticated user's session.\nThe exploitation process involves an attacker interacting with the ARE GUI from a remote, unauthenticated state. By crafting malicious HTTP requests directed at the GUI backend, the attacker bypasses the internal authentication checks. Because the system fails to validate that the request originated from a legitimate session token or a verified user, the application processes the request as if it were submitted by a user who has already successfully logged in.\nWhen the ARE GUI component receives these requests, it executes the specified actions under the security context of the victim's authenticated profile. This is essentially an authorization failure where the application assumes that any request hitting the authenticated-only endpoints is inherently trusted or already validated by a preceding layer, which is demonstrably not the case in this implementation.\nThe attack flow follows a structured path: 1) The attacker identifies the exposed ARE GUI interface over the network. 2) The attacker submits specially crafted payloads to the component endpoints, potentially involving cross-site or session-based manipulation. 3) The component, lacking sufficient per-request authorization enforcement, executes the payload. 4) The server processes the command using the permissions of a previously authenticated user account currently active within the system.\nThe post-exploitation impact is significant, as the attacker effectively bypasses the IBM i security model. By hijacking the context of a legitimate user, an attacker can perform any action the victim is authorized to conduct, ranging from file system modification and system configuration changes to the execution of arbitrary system commands. This leads to total compromise of the affected environment."
}