VDB-393961 · CVE-2026-16989 · GCVE-0-2026-16989

IBM AIX/PowerVM VIOS 4.1/7.2/7.3 privileges management

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 (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	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.
6.2	$5k-$25k	0.95+

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in IBM AIX and PowerVM VIOS 4.1/7.2/7.3. The impacted element is an unknown function. This manipulation causes privileges management. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-16989. It is possible to launch the attack on the local host. There is not any exploit available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in IBM AIX and PowerVM VIOS 4.1/7.2/7.3 and classified as problematic. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown functionality. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a privileges management vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-269. The product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor. 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 local attacker to gain elevated privileges due to improper resolution of symbolic links.

The advisory is shared at ibm.com. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-16989 since 07/24/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. An attack has to be approached locally. 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 08/21/2026). MITRE ATT&CK project uses the attack technique T1068 for this issue.

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

Operating System

Vendor

Name

Version

License

commercial

Website

Vendor: https://www.ibm.com/

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 6.2
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 6.2

VulDB Base Score: 5.3
VulDB Temp Score: 5.3
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CNA Base Score: 7.1
CNA Vector (ibm): 🔒

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

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

Exploitinginfo

Class: Privileges management
CWE: CWE-269 / CWE-266
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: No

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined
Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

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-2026-16989 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-16989
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-393961

Entryinfo

Created: 08/21/2026 00:45
Changes: 08/21/2026 00:45 (62)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103