CVE-2026-16927
Received Received - Intake

TOCTOU Race Condition in IBM AIX and PowerVM VIOS

Publication date: 2026-08-20

Last updated on: 2026-08-20

Assigner: IBM Corporation

Description
IBM AIX 7.2, and 7.3 and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1 could allow a local attacker to gain root privileges due to a time-of-check to time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition.

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Meta Information

Published
2026-08-20
Last Modified
2026-08-20
Generated
2026-08-20
AI Q&A
2026-08-20
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
CVE-2026-16927
EUVD
EUVD-2026-63387

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
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-367 The product checks the state of a resource before using that resource, but the resource's state can change between the check and the use in a way that invalidates the results of the check.

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Executive Summary

This is a time-of-check to time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition vulnerability in IBM AIX 7.2, 7.3, and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1. A local attacker could exploit this flaw to gain root privileges by manipulating the timing of certain operations.

Impact Analysis

If exploited, this vulnerability allows a local attacker to escalate their privileges to root level on affected systems. This could lead to unauthorized access, data manipulation, or system compromise.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability allows local attackers to gain root privileges, which could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive data. This may violate compliance requirements under GDPR (data protection) and HIPAA (healthcare data security) by enabling unauthorized access or data breaches.

Mitigation Strategies

Apply IBM-provided patches or updates for AIX 7.2, 7.3, and PowerVM VIOS 4.1 to address the TOCTOU race condition. Monitor IBM's security advisories for fixes and restrict local user access until patches are applied.

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