Lenovo XClarity Controller up to IHX436K Reset to Default improper authentication

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Lenovo XClarity Controller up to IHX436K. It has been rated as very critical. Affected is an unknown function of the component Reset to Default. The manipulation leads to improper authentication. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2026-81936. Remote exploitation of the attack is possible. No exploit is available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Lenovo XClarity Controller up to IHX436K. It has been rated as very critical. This issue affects an unknown function of the component Reset to Default. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a improper authentication vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-287. When an actor claims to have a given identity, the product does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

An internal security review identified a development regression from ThinkSystem v4 XClarity Controller 3 (XCC3) versions (2.51) IHX432Y to (2.56) IHX436K which re-introduces the default OpenBMC root password upon performing an XCC Reset to Default operation.  An attacker can gain access to enabled administrative interfaces of XCC using the default OpenBMC credential re-introduced after Reset to Default. Additionally, this provides access to the underlying XCC Operating System which is not normally accessible. Only these versions are affected and are no longer available for download. Process enhancements have also been made to prevent and identify potential future regression.

It is possible to read the advisory at lenovopress.lenovo.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-81936 since 08/27/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be initiated remotely. The exploitation requires an enhanced level of successful authentication. It demands that the victim is doing some kind of user interaction. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 11/11/2026).

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

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Productinfo

Vendor

• Lenovo

Name

• XClarity Controller

Version

• IHX436K

License

• commercial

Website

• Vendor: https://www.lenovo.com/

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