High severity · published Aug 19, 2026
CVE-2026-17042
Power System Out-of-bounds Read
7.3
CVSS
0.1%
EPSS
No
On KEV
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 vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:H
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
High
Scope
Changed
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.1% · higher than 3% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
PS
Power Systems Firmware · IBM
FW950.00 through FW950.H2; OP940.00 through OP940.a1; OP940.00 through OP940.81 · source: vendor
PS
Power System Ac922 (8335-gth) Firmware · Ibm
op940 before op940.a2 · source: NVD
PS
Power System Ac922 (8335-gtx) Firmware · Ibm
op940 before op940.a2 · source: NVD
PS
Power System E950 (9040-mr9) Firmware · Ibm
fw950.00 before fw950.h3 · source: NVD
PS
Power System E980 (9080-m9s) Firmware · Ibm
fw950.00 before fw950.h3 · source: NVD
PS
Power System H922 (9223-22s) Firmware · Ibm
fw950.00 before fw950.h3 · source: NVD
PS
Power System H924 (9223-42s) Firmware · Ibm
fw950.00 before fw950.h3 · source: NVD
PS
Power System S914 (9009-41g) Firmware · Ibm
fw950.00 before fw950.h3 · source: NVD
PS
Power System S922 (9009-22g) Firmware · Ibm
fw950.00 before fw950.h3 · source: NVD
PS
Power System S924 (9009-42g) Firmware · Ibm
fw950.00 before fw950.h3 · source: NVD
Affected product
PS
Power Systems Firmware
IBM
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