CVE-2026-16935

Received Received - Intake

Time-of-Check to Time-of-Use 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 elevated privileges due to a time-of-check to time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition.

CVSS Scores

EPSS Scores

Probability:
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Meta Information

Published

2026-08-20

Last Modified

2026-08-20

Generated

2026-08-21

AI Q&A

2026-08-21

EPSS Evaluated

N/A

NVD

CVE-2026-16935

EUVD

EUVD-2026-63671

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendor	Product	Version / Range
ibm	aix	From 7.2 (inc)
ibm	aix	From 7.3 (inc)
ibm	powervm_vios	From 4.1 (inc)

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

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.

Attack-Flow Graph

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 elevated privileges by manipulating the timing between checking and using a resource.

Impact Analysis

A local attacker could exploit this vulnerability to gain higher privileges on the system, potentially allowing them to execute arbitrary code, access sensitive data, or perform unauthorized actions.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability allows local attackers to gain elevated privileges through a race condition, which could lead to unauthorized access or control of systems. This may violate compliance requirements for data protection standards like GDPR or HIPAA by enabling unauthorized access to sensitive data or systems handling protected health information.

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 security advisories for fixes and restrict local user access until patches are applied.

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