CVE-2026-17042

Analyzed Analyzed - Analysis Complete

Memory Corruption in IBM Power Systems Firmware

Publication date: 2026-08-19

Last updated on: 2026-08-25

Assigner: IBM Corporation

Description

IBM Power Systems Firmware FW950.00 through FW950.H2, OP940.00 through OP940.a1 (Power9), and OP940.00 - OP940.81 (Power HMC) is affected by a vulnerability in host firmware NVRAM parsing. An attacker with root access to a guest partition on an OpenPOWER system can write a specially crafted NVRAM image, causing the host firmware boot stage to crash with possible memory corruption. This condition persists until operator intervention — clearing NVRAM via the service processor — to restore normal operation. This vulnerability only affects OpenPOWER systems; systems running PowerVM are not affected. Successful exploitation results in an integrity and availability impact to the managed system.

CVSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published

2026-08-19

Last Modified

2026-08-25

Generated

2026-09-09

AI Q&A

2026-08-19

EPSS Evaluated

2026-09-07

NVD

CVE-2026-17042

EUVD

EUVD-2026-62696

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendor	Product	Version / Range
ibm	power_system_s922_(9009-22g)_firmware	From fw950.00 (inc) to fw950.h3 (exc)
ibm	power_system_h922_(9223-22s)_firmware	From fw950.00 (inc) to fw950.h3 (exc)
ibm	power_system_s914_(9009-41g)_firmware	From fw950.00 (inc) to fw950.h3 (exc)
ibm	power_system_s924_(9009-42g)_firmware	From fw950.00 (inc) to fw950.h3 (exc)
ibm	power_system_h924_(9223-42s)_firmware	From fw950.00 (inc) to fw950.h3 (exc)
ibm	power_system_e950_(9040-mr9)_firmware	From fw950.00 (inc) to fw950.h3 (exc)
ibm	power_system_e980_(9080-m9s)_firmware	From fw950.00 (inc) to fw950.h3 (exc)
ibm	power_system_ac922_(8335-gth)_firmware	From op940 (inc) to op940.a2 (exc)
ibm	power_system_ac922_(8335-gtx)_firmware	From op940 (inc) to op940.a2 (exc)
ibm	power_hardware_management_console_(7063-cr2)_firmware	From op940 (inc) to op940.82 (exc)

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

CWE ID	Description
CWE-125	The product reads data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer.

Attack-Flow Graph

Executive Summary

CVE-2026-17042 is a flaw in IBM Power Systems Firmware where improper parsing of NVRAM during the host firmware boot stage can be exploited. An attacker with root access to a guest partition on an OpenPOWER system can craft a malicious NVRAM image to crash the host firmware and potentially corrupt memory. This requires operator intervention to clear NVRAM via the service processor to restore normal operation.

Detection Guidance

Detection requires checking firmware versions on OpenPOWER systems. Compare installed firmware against affected versions: FW950.00 to FW950.H2, OP940.00 to OP940.a1 (Power9), or OP940.00 to OP940.81 (Power HMC). Use system management tools or service processor interfaces to inspect firmware versions.

Impact Analysis

If exploited, this vulnerability can cause the host firmware to crash, leading to memory corruption and disrupting system availability. It may also compromise system integrity, requiring manual recovery by clearing NVRAM. Only OpenPOWER systems are affected; PowerVM systems are safe.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability could lead to integrity and availability impacts, potentially violating compliance requirements for data protection and system availability in standards like GDPR or HIPAA. Unplanned downtime or data corruption may result in non-compliance penalties.

Mitigation Strategies

Update firmware immediately to remediation versions: FW950.H3(950_230) or later for Power9, OP940.a2 or newer for Power9 AC922, or OP940.82 or newer for IBM Power HMC. No workarounds exist; updates are mandatory to prevent exploitation.

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