IBM AIX/PowerVM VIOS 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.
6.9$5k-$25k0.47+

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as critical has been detected in IBM AIX and PowerVM VIOS. Affected by this issue is some unknown functionality. This manipulation causes improper authentication. This vulnerability is registered as CVE-2026-16972. Remote exploitation of the attack is possible. No exploit is available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in IBM AIX and PowerVM VIOS (affected version not known). It has been declared as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is some unknown functionality. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a improper authentication vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-287. When an actor claims to have a given identity, the product does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct. As an impact it is known to affect 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 obtain sensitive information due to improper authentication.

It is possible to read the advisory at ibm.com. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-16972 since 07/24/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be launched remotely. The exploitation doesn't need any form of authentication. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $5k-$25k at the moment (estimation calculated on 08/21/2026).

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

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

Vendor

Name

License

Website

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 6.9
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 6.9

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

CNA Base Score: 6.5
CNA Vector (ibm): 🔒

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
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💳💳💳💳💳💳
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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
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

07/24/2026 CVE reserved
08/20/2026 +27 days VulDB entry created
08/21/2026 +0 days Advisory disclosed
08/21/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: ibm.com

Advisory: ibm.com
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-16972 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-16972
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-393955

Entryinfo

Created: 08/21/2026 00:42
Changes: 08/21/2026 00:42 (61)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

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