Authenticated privilege escalation to full admin on widely used IBM enterprise file-transfer (Aspera Faspex) enabling full takeover and data exposure.
CVE-2026-123218
Authenticated user can bypass auth to gain full admin on IBM Aspera Faspex.
do firstApply mitigations in accordance with vendor instructions, ensuring compliance with CISA’s BOD 26-04 Prioritizing Security Updates Based on Risk (see URL in Notes) guidance and CISA’s “Forensics Triage Requirements” (see URL in Notes). Follow applicable BOD 26-04 guidance for cloud services or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. Stakeholders are responsible for evaluating each asset's internet exposure and ensuring adherence to BOD 26-04 patching guidelines.
Is CVE-2026-123218 being exploited?
Yes. CVE-2026-123218 appears in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which means exploitation in the wild has been confirmed and reported. Treat it as active rather than theoretical, and patch it ahead of higher-scoring vulnerabilities that carry no exploitation evidence.
How severe is CVE-2026-123218?
CVE-2026-123218 is rated Critical with a CVSS score of 9.8. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.
Is there a patch for CVE-2026-123218?
Not known from our data. No patch reference has been recorded for CVE-2026-123218, which is not the same as no patch existing — a fix may have shipped without a tagged reference, or after this record was written. The vendor advisory is the only authority on whether a fix exists, and mitigations may be available regardless.
What does CVE-2026-123218 affect?
CVE-2026-123218 affects IBM Aspera Faspex 5.0.0 - 5.0.19, Faspex server deployments. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.
What should I do about CVE-2026-123218?
Apply vendor fix ASAP; restrict/isolate Faspex, limit admin access, audit and rotate credentials.
Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.
Authenticated user can bypass authorization to gain full administrative privileges, enabling data access, configuration changes, and tenant/user takeover.
Immediate action required
- affected>= 5.0.0 and <= 5.0.19
As published in the CVE Program record. A version outside these ranges is not a statement that it is unaffected — vendors sometimes understate a range, and distribution-backported builds carry upstream numbers that do not reflect what was patched into them.
timeline
- 7 Nov 2026Published
- 7 Nov 2026CVE record last updated · same day later
- 9 Nov 2026Added to CISA KEV (exploited in the wild) · 2 days later
- 9 Nov 2026Analysed by vulneraibility.com · 1 day later
- 12 Nov 2026CISA remediation due date (US federal agencies) · 2 days later
- Patchibm.com /support/pages/node/7295921
sources
- CVE List (CVE.org): description, affected versions, references; CVE Terms of Use
- NVD: CVSS and CPE data
- CISA KEV catalog: exploitation, date added, due date
- FIRST EPSS: exploit probability and percentile
- Summary, impact and triage tags: written by our AI analysis pipeline from the sources above. Check them against the sources.