CVE-2026-84250

Root privilege escalation via hard-coded recovery key

Published Oct 8, 2026 · Updated Oct 8, 2026

Credential exposure in IBM Guardium Data Protection 12.2 allows local users to gain root privileges via pkcrypto password recovery. The pkcrypto passkey component combines weak cryptographic protection with a hard-coded recovery key, allowing recovery of the root password. Exploitation requires local access, not user interaction, and grants root control of the affected system.

CVSS severity8.4
High
EPSS probability0.09%
Next 30 days · Oct 19, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Credential exposure in IBM Guardium Data Protection 12.2 allows local users to gain root privileges via pkcrypto password recovery. The pkcrypto passkey component combines weak cryptographic protection with a hard-coded recovery key, allowing recovery of the root password. Exploitation requires local access, not user interaction, and grants root control of the affected system.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-84250
Published
Oct 8, 2026
Updated
Oct 8, 2026
Vendor
IBM
Product
Guardium Data Protection
Classifications
CWE-798, T1552
Attack vector
local
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Oct 8, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Oct 8, 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=12.2

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

IBM · Guardium Data Protectionversion=12.2

Published CVSS scores

8.4IBMCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/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.

Activity data is delayed. The latest report is Sep 28, 2026.

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

No observations available

Sep 22, 2026Sep 28, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 28, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-798Use of Hard-coded Credentials
T1552Unsecured Credentials

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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