CVE-2026-16817
Received Received - Intake

NULL Pointer Dereference in IBM AIX and PowerVM VIOS

Publication date: 2026-08-19

Last updated on: 2026-08-19

Assigner: IBM Corporation

Description
IBM AIX 7.2, and 7.3 and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1 could allow a remote attacker to cause a denial of service due to a NULL pointer dereference.

CVSS Scores

EPSS Scores

Probability:
Percentile:

Meta Information

Published
2026-08-19
Last Modified
2026-08-19
Generated
2026-08-19
AI Q&A
2026-08-19
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
CVE-2026-16817
EUVD
EUVD-2026-62527

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 3 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
ibm aix 7.2
ibm aix 7.3
ibm powervm_vios 4.1

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE
CWE Icon
KEV
KEV Icon
CWE ID Description
CWE-476 The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL.

Attack-Flow Graph

AI Quick Actions

Instant insights powered by AI
Executive Summary

This vulnerability is a denial of service issue in IBM AIX 7.2, 7.3, and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1 caused by a remote attacker triggering a NULL pointer dereference. This means an attacker could send specially crafted input to crash the system, making it unavailable for legitimate users.

Detection Guidance

Detection requires checking for IBM AIX 7.2, 7.3, or PowerVM VIOS 4.1 systems and verifying if they are exposed to network traffic that could trigger a NULL pointer dereference. No specific commands are provided in the available context.

Impact Analysis

If exploited, this vulnerability could cause your IBM AIX or PowerVM VIOS systems to become unresponsive or crash, leading to downtime for critical services. This disrupts operations and may require system restarts to recover.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability causes a denial of service due to a NULL pointer dereference, which could disrupt system availability. For compliance standards like GDPR or HIPAA, availability is a key requirement, so such disruptions may lead to non-compliance if critical systems are affected.

Mitigation Strategies

Apply IBM-provided patches or updates for AIX 7.2, 7.3, and PowerVM VIOS 4.1 to address the NULL pointer dereference issue. Monitor IBM security advisories for fixes and implement network-level protections to limit exposure to remote attacks.

Chat Assistant

Ask questions about this CVE
Hi! I’m here to help you understand CVE-2026-16817. Ask me anything about the vulnerability, its impact, or mitigation strategies.
0/70

EPSS Chart