CVE-2026-17009

Received Received - Intake

Denial of Service 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 cause a denial of service due to a NULL pointer dereference.

CVSS Scores

EPSS Scores

Probability:
Percentile:

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-2026-17009

EUVD

EUVD-2026-63638

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendor	Product	Version / Range
ibm	aix	7.2
ibm	aix	7.3
ibm	powervm_vios	4.1

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

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

Attack-Flow Graph

Executive Summary

This vulnerability is a NULL pointer dereference issue in IBM AIX 7.2, 7.3, and IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1. A local attacker could exploit this to cause a denial of service by crashing the system.

Detection Guidance

This vulnerability is a local denial of service issue caused by a NULL pointer dereference in IBM AIX and PowerVM VIOS. Detection requires checking for specific kernel or system errors related to NULL pointer dereferences. No direct commands are provided in the context, but monitoring system logs for crashes or kernel panics may indicate exploitation. Review IBM AIX and PowerVM VIOS documentation for patches or updates addressing this issue.

Impact Analysis

The impact is limited to local attacks. An attacker with local access could crash the system, leading to service disruption but no data compromise or remote exploitation.

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 test patches in a non-production environment before deployment.

Hi! I’m here to help you understand CVE-2026-17009. Ask me anything about the vulnerability, its impact, or mitigation strategies.

0/70