High-severity remote code execution + privilege escalation in widely used enterprise IBM AIX / PowerVM virtualization stack; could lead to full system compromise across affected servers.
CVE-2026-17145
Remote code execution via improper privilege management on IBM AIX and PowerVM VIOS.
Is CVE-2026-17145 being exploited?
Not confirmed. CVE-2026-17145 does not appear in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which records only exploitation that has been observed and reported publicly. That is evidence of absence of a report, not evidence the flaw is unattacked. EPSS currently estimates a 0.51% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
How severe is CVE-2026-17145?
CVE-2026-17145 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-2026-17145?
Yes. A fix has been recorded for CVE-2026-17145. The vendor advisory is the authority on the exact fixed version — apply it from there rather than from a summary.
What does CVE-2026-17145 affect?
CVE-2026-17145 affects IBM AIX 7.2, IBM AIX 7.3, IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.
What should I do about CVE-2026-17145?
Apply vendor patch immediately or isolate/restrict management interfaces until patched.
Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.
Remote attacker can execute arbitrary code and escalate to root/host compromise on AIX 7.2/7.3 and VIOS 4.1, risking full system takeover and VM host breaches.
Immediate action required
- affected7.2
- affected7.3
- affected4.1
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.