CVE-2026-16989
HighCVSS 7.1Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk3th percentile - higher than 3% of all known CVEs
Summary
IBM AIX 7.2, 7.3 and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1 could allow a local attacker to gain elevated privileges due to improper resolution of symbolic links.
Risk Assessment
A local attacker could exploit the flaw to escalate privileges, potentially leading to system security breach.
Recommendation
Apply patches from IBM and enforce least privilege principles for users.
Other vulnerabilities in IBM AIX
See all- CVE-2016-3053High
IBM AIX contains an unspecified vulnerability that allows a locally authenticated user to obtain root level privileges.
- CVE-2026-18835Critical
IBM AIX 7.2, 7.3 and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1 could allow a remote authenticated attacker to execute arbitrary commands due to improper neutralization of special elements used in an OS command.
- CVE-2026-17422Critical
IBM AIX 7.2, 7.3 and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1 could allow a local attacker to execute arbitrary code due to a buffer overflow.
- CVE-2026-17160Critical
IBM AIX 7.2, 7.3 and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1 could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code due to an integer overflow during size computation.
- CVE-2026-17157Critical
IBM AIX 7.2, 7.3 and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1 could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code due to a stack buffer overflow.
- CVE-2026-17152Critical
IBM AIX 7.2, 7.3 and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1 could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code due to a buffer overflow.
- CVE-2026-17145Critical
IBM AIX 7.2, 7.3 and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1 could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code due to improper privilege management.
- CVE-2026-17142Critical
IBM AIX 7.2, 7.3 and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1 could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands due to improper authentication.
- CVE-2026-17141Critical
IBM AIX 7.2, 7.3 and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1 could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code due to a buffer overflow.
- CVE-2026-17136Critical
IBM AIX 7.2, 7.3 and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1 could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code due to a format string vulnerability.
Original NVD description (English source)
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.