CVE-2023-40686

Local privilege escalation via undisclosed Management Central flaw

Published Oct 29, 2023 · Updated Sep 6, 2024

Privilege escalation in Management Central in IBM i 7.2 through 7.5 allows local users with command-line access to gain component access. IBM has not published the flawed operation or input path within Management Central that enables the privilege change. Command-line access to the operating system is required; the reported consequence is component access, not root access.

CVSS severity4.9
Medium
EPSS probability0.14%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Privilege escalation in Management Central in IBM i 7.2 through 7.5 allows local users with command-line access to gain component access. IBM has not published the flawed operation or input path within Management Central that enables the privilege change. Command-line access to the operating system is required; the reported consequence is component access, not root access.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-40686
Published
Oct 29, 2023
Updated
Sep 6, 2024
Vendor
IBM
Product
IBM i
Classifications
CWE-269, T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
Unavailable

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Oct 29, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 6, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesUnavailable in this record.

What is affected?

IBM · IBM iversion=7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5

Published CVSS scores

4.9IBM CorporationCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
7.8NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
PrivilegesUnavailable
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-269Improper Privilege Management
T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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