IBM AIX/PowerVM VIOS 4.1/7.2/7.3 improper authentication

CVSS Meta Temp Score
CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.
Current Exploit Price (≈)
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CTI Interest Score
Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
7.7$5k-$25k0.47

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in IBM AIX and PowerVM VIOS 4.1/7.2/7.3. It has been classified as critical. This affects an unknown part. Performing a manipulation results in improper authentication. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-16686. The attack may be initiated remotely. There is no available exploit.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in IBM AIX and PowerVM VIOS 4.1/7.2/7.3. It has been classified as critical. This affects an unknown code block. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a improper authentication vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-287. When an actor claims to have a given identity, the product does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

IBM AIX 7.2, and 7.3 and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1 could allow a remote attacker to access NFS-exported filesystems due to improper authentication.

The advisory is shared at ibm.com. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-16686 since 07/23/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. No form of authentication is needed for exploitation. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $5k-$25k at the moment (estimation calculated on 08/19/2026).

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

Vendor

Name

Version

License

Website

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 7.7
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 7.7

VulDB Base Score: 7.3
VulDB Temp Score: 7.3
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CNA Base Score: 8.2
CNA Vector (ibm): 🔒

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
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VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
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VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Improper authentication
CWE: CWE-287
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔒
EPSS Percentile: 🔒

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

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Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: no mitigation known
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Timelineinfo

07/23/2026 CVE reserved
08/19/2026 +27 days Advisory disclosed
08/19/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
08/19/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: ibm.com

Advisory: ibm.com
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-16686 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-16686
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-393153

Entryinfo

Created: 08/19/2026 17:17
Changes: 08/19/2026 17:17 (62)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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