CVE-2026-17485 in IBM
Summary
by MITRE • 08/12/2026
IBM i 7.6, 7.5, 7.4, and 7.3 could allow a remote attacker to cause a denial of service and obtain sensitive information due to an integer underflow.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/12/2026
This vulnerability affects IBM i operating systems version 7.6, 7.5, 7.4, and 7.3, presenting a critical security risk that could be exploited by remote attackers to cause system disruption and unauthorized data access. The flaw stems from an integer underflow condition within the system's processing logic, which occurs when a signed integer value is decremented below its minimum representable value, causing it to wrap around to a large positive number. This type of vulnerability falls under CWE-191, which specifically addresses integer underflow conditions that can lead to unpredictable behavior and potential security breaches.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves scenarios where the system processes user-supplied input or network requests without proper validation of integer parameters. When an attacker crafts malicious input that triggers the underflow condition, the system's normal execution flow becomes disrupted, potentially leading to memory corruption or unexpected program behavior. The integer underflow can manifest in various contexts including buffer handling, loop control variables, or size calculations where negative values are not properly validated before being used in critical operations.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability creates multiple attack vectors that could result in significant system compromise. A remote attacker exploiting this flaw could potentially cause a denial of service by crashing system processes or consuming excessive resources through malformed input processing. Additionally, the underflow condition may inadvertently expose sensitive information stored in memory locations that become accessible due to the corrupted integer values. This dual impact makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous as it combines availability and confidentiality risks into a single exploit mechanism.
The security implications extend beyond simple service disruption, as this vulnerability aligns with several tactics described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the initial access and privilege escalation domains. Attackers could leverage this flaw to establish persistent access or elevate privileges within the system environment. The integer underflow condition creates an exploitable path that could be combined with other vulnerabilities to achieve more sophisticated attack objectives, making it a valuable target for advanced persistent threat actors.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the latest security patches from IBM, which typically address the underlying integer validation logic and prevent the overflow conditions. Network segmentation and access controls should be strengthened to limit exposure of affected systems to untrusted networks. Input validation mechanisms should be enhanced to specifically check for integer boundary conditions and reject malformed requests before they can trigger the vulnerable code paths. System monitoring should include detection of anomalous integer processing patterns that could indicate exploitation attempts, while regular security assessments should verify that the patched implementations properly handle all edge cases in integer calculations and memory management operations.