CVE-2026-16828 in Power Systems
Summary
by MITRE • 08/19/2026
IBM Power Systems Firmware FW1120.00, FW1110.00 through FW1110.30, FW1060.00 through FW1060.80, and FW950.00 through FW950.H2 is affected by a vulnerability in the ASMI web interface. An unauthenticated attacker on the management network can cause the ASMI web server to crash with possible memory corruption and generate an error log; hosted partitions are not affected. The ASMI web interface will restart automatically; however, repeated exploitation could result in a sustained loss of access to the ASMI management interface, resulting in an integrity and availability impact.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/19/2026
The vulnerability identified within IBM Power Systems firmware versions FW1120.00, FW1110.00 through FW1110.30, FW1060.00 through FW1060.80, and FW950.00 through FW950.H2 resides in the Advanced System Management Interface web server component known as ASMI. This interface serves as a critical out-of-band management tool for administrators to configure hardware settings, monitor system health, and perform firmware updates on IBM Power Systems servers. The flaw allows an unauthenticated attacker who has network connectivity to the dedicated management network segment to trigger a denial of service condition against this web server. Unlike vulnerabilities that compromise data confidentiality or allow remote code execution, this specific issue is characterized by its ability to cause the ASMI process to crash unexpectedly due to memory corruption errors when processing malformed requests from an unauthenticated source.
From a technical perspective, the root cause involves improper handling of input within the ASMI web server logic, leading to memory corruption upon receipt of specifically crafted network packets or HTTP requests. This type of flaw is commonly categorized under CWE-120 Buffer Overflow and CWE-400 Uncontrolled Resource Consumption depending on the specific mechanism triggering the crash. The presence of an error log generation indicates that the system attempts to record the fault, but the severity of the memory corruption forces a termination of the ASMI service process rather than graceful recovery within the same session. It is important to note that this vulnerability affects only the management interface layer and does not extend to hosted partitions or guest operating systems running on the hardware, thereby isolating the impact strictly to infrastructure management capabilities.
The operational impact centers heavily on availability and integrity of the system administration plane. While the ASMI web server is designed with a self-healing mechanism that automatically restarts after a crash, this recovery process introduces latency during which no administrative actions can be performed. More critically, if an attacker engages in repeated exploitation attempts, they can induce rapid successive crashes that outpace the automatic restart capability or exhaust system resources associated with logging and error handling. This sustained denial of service effectively locks administrators out of the management interface, preventing them from performing essential tasks such as monitoring hardware status, applying security patches, or configuring network settings. In a production environment where remote management is vital for maintaining uptime and responding to incidents, this loss of access can lead to extended downtime if manual intervention via physical console access is not available or feasible.
In terms of threat modeling, this vulnerability aligns with MITRE ATT&CK technique T1499 Endpoint Denial of Service, specifically the sub-technique involving resource exhaustion through application layer attacks. The attack vector requires network proximity to the management interface, which typically implies that the attacker must have compromised a host on the same VLAN or subnet as the ASMI port, or exploited a lateral movement path from an external breach if the management network is improperly segmented. This highlights the importance of strict access control lists and firewall rules restricting traffic to the ASMI IP address only from trusted administrative workstations.
Mitigation strategies primarily involve applying the latest firmware updates provided by IBM that patch this specific memory corruption flaw in the ASMI web server component. Until patches are applied, administrators should enforce network-level controls such as Access Control Lists on switches and firewalls to restrict access to the ASMI management port exclusively from authorized IP addresses associated with system administration workstations. Additionally, enabling strong authentication mechanisms where supported by the firmware version can add a layer of defense in depth, although this specific vulnerability affects unauthenticated requests so pre-authentication controls are essential. Regular monitoring of error logs for signs of repeated crash events can also serve as an early warning indicator of active exploitation attempts against the management interface.