CVE-2026-17042: CWE-125 Out-of-bounds Read in IBM Power Systems Firmware
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.
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
CVE-2026-17042 is an out-of-bounds read vulnerability (CWE-125) in IBM Power Systems Firmware versions FW950.00 through FW950.H2, OP940.00 through OP940.a1 (Power9), and OP940.00 through OP940.81 (Power HMC). The flaw exists in the host firmware's NVRAM parsing logic. An attacker with root privileges on a guest partition of an OpenPOWER system can supply a specially crafted NVRAM image, causing the host firmware boot stage to crash and possibly corrupt memory. This condition persists until manual intervention clears the NVRAM via the service processor. Systems running PowerVM are not affected by this vulnerability.
Potential Impact
Successful exploitation leads to a denial of service condition by crashing the host firmware boot stage, causing integrity and availability impacts to the managed system. The system remains in this impaired state until an operator clears the NVRAM via the service processor. There is no confidentiality impact reported.
Mitigation Recommendations
No official patch or remediation level has been published yet. Operators must manually clear the NVRAM via the service processor to restore normal operation after exploitation. Patch status is not yet confirmed — check the vendor advisory for current remediation guidance.
CVE-2026-17042: CWE-125 Out-of-bounds Read in IBM Power Systems Firmware
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 v3.1
Score 7.3high
Affected software
IBM
Power Systems Firmware
Weaknesses
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
CVE-2026-17042 is an out-of-bounds read vulnerability (CWE-125) in IBM Power Systems Firmware versions FW950.00 through FW950.H2, OP940.00 through OP940.a1 (Power9), and OP940.00 through OP940.81 (Power HMC). The flaw exists in the host firmware's NVRAM parsing logic. An attacker with root privileges on a guest partition of an OpenPOWER system can supply a specially crafted NVRAM image, causing the host firmware boot stage to crash and possibly corrupt memory. This condition persists until manual intervention clears the NVRAM via the service processor. Systems running PowerVM are not affected by this vulnerability.
Potential Impact
Successful exploitation leads to a denial of service condition by crashing the host firmware boot stage, causing integrity and availability impacts to the managed system. The system remains in this impaired state until an operator clears the NVRAM via the service processor. There is no confidentiality impact reported.
Mitigation Recommendations
No official patch or remediation level has been published yet. Operators must manually clear the NVRAM via the service processor to restore normal operation after exploitation. Patch status is not yet confirmed — check the vendor advisory for current remediation guidance.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- ibm
- Date Reserved
- 2026-07-24T12:55:35.930Z
- Cvss Version
- 3.1
- State
- PUBLISHED
Threat ID: 6a860281acd9273b4982c686
Added to database: 08/19/2026, 19:22:41 UTC
Last enriched: 08/19/2026, 19:37:12 UTC
Last updated: 10/02/2026, 14:46:05 UTC
Views: 60
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