CVE-2026-17042
Power System Out-of-bounds Read
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.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- Low
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
Power System Out-of-bounds Read
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.
- Record
CVE-2026-17042- CVSS 3.1
- 7.3 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-125
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2026-62696
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.
- Record
EUVD-2026-62696- CVSS 3.1
- 7.3 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-rcv3-hw8m-43fg
IBM Power Systems Firmware FW950.00 through FW950.H2, OP940.00 through OP940.a1 (Power9), and...
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.
- Record
GHSA-rcv3-hw8m-43fg- CVSS 3.1
- 7.3 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-125
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
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.
- Record
CVE-2026-17042- CVSS 3.1
- 7.3 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-125
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
- ibm power systems firmware
- ibm power hardware management console \(7063-cr2\) firmware
- ibm power system ac922 \(8335-gth\) firmware
- ibm power system ac922 \(8335-gtx\) firmware
- ibm power system e950 \(9040-mr9\) firmware
- ibm power system e980 \(9080-m9s\) firmware
- ibm power system h922 \(9223-22s\) firmware
- ibm power system h924 \(9223-42s\) firmware
- ibm power system s914 \(9009-41g\) firmware
- ibm power system s922 \(9009-22g\) firmware
- ibm power system s924 \(9009-42g\) firmware
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| first indexed | CVE List, EUVD, GitHub Advisories, NVD |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2026-17042 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.3) in Ibm Power Systems Firmware, published August 19, 2026. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.14%, the 3rd percentile. No source names a fixed version.