Description

IBM AIX 7.2, and 7.3 and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1 could allow a remote authenticated attacker to execute arbitrary commands due to improper neutralization of special elements used in an OS command.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "9.9",
  "pubDate": "2026-08-20T22:17:17.430Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-08-20T22:17:17.430Z",
  "executiveSummary": "This vulnerability involves an improper neutralization of special elements used in an OS command within IBM AIX and IBM PowerVM VIOS, classifiable as an OS Command Injection flaw.\nThe vulnerability allows a remote authenticated attacker to execute arbitrary system commands on the underlying operating system.\nAffected products include IBM AIX 7.2, IBM AIX 7.3, and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1.\nThe risk implications are severe, as successful exploitation compromises the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the host operating system, potentially leading to total system compromise.\nAttacker capabilities require remote authentication, granting the actor the ability to inject malicious OS commands via vulnerable interfaces or components.\nExploitation requirements mandate that the attacker possesses valid authentication credentials and leverages an input vector that fails to properly sanitize or neutralize special characters before passing them to the underlying shell or command interpreter.",
  "technicalDetails": "The root cause of the vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and improper sanitization of special characters within internal command execution routines. When untrusted user input containing shell metacharacters is processed and passed directly to the underlying operating system command interpreter, the interpreter evaluates the metacharacters as syntax rather than literal data.\nThe vulnerable components reside within the command parsing and execution logic of IBM AIX 7.2, IBM AIX 7.3, and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1. Because the application fails to enforce strict allowlisting or proper escaping mechanisms, attackers can append arbitrary command sequences to legitimate input parameters.\nAttack flow begins with the authenticated attacker identifying an input vector that passes parameters to an OS command execution function. The attacker crafts a malicious payload containing command separators or injection metacharacters. Upon submission, the vulnerable application constructs a system command string incorporating the unsanitized payload and executes it via the system shell.\nAuthentication and privilege requirements dictate that the attacker must have remote authenticated access to the target system. Depending on the execution context of the vulnerable component, the injected commands inherit the privilege level of the process invoking the shell, which may lead to elevated privileges if the component runs with administrative rights.\nPayload behavior involves the immediate execution of arbitrary system-level commands defined by the attacker within the shell environment. Post-exploitation impact includes unauthorized data exfiltration, modification of system configurations, deployment of persistent malware, lateral movement within the network, and complete administrative control over the affected IBM AIX or IBM PowerVM VIOS instance."
}