Root privilege escalation via RBAC role bypass
Published Aug 19, 2026 · Updated Aug 21, 2026
Privilege escalation in IBM AIX 7.2 and 7.3 and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1 allows local users to obtain root privileges via RBAC role checks. IBM describes the flaw only as improper enforcement of RBAC authentication roles and has not published the affected command, subsystem, or code path that performs the incorrect authorization decision. Reachability requires local access with low privileges, and successful exploitation yields root-level control over the affected AIX host or VIOS partition.
Summary
What happened
Privilege escalation in IBM AIX 7.2 and 7.3 and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1 allows local users to obtain root privileges via RBAC role checks. IBM describes the flaw only as improper enforcement of RBAC authentication roles and has not published the affected command, subsystem, or code path that performs the incorrect authorization decision. Reachability requires local access with low privileges, and successful exploitation yields root-level control over the affected AIX host or VIOS partition.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-16874
- Published
- Aug 19, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 21, 2026
- Vendor
- OpenBMC Project
- Product
- AIX
- Classifications
- CWE-269, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 19, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 21, 2026Record 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.
- Affected versionversion=7.2
- Affected versionversion=7.3
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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