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HIGH

IBM AIX privilege escalation

Published Sep 16, 2025

Description

IBM AIX 7.2, 7.3, IBM VIOS 3.1, and 4.1, when configured to use Kerberos network authentication, could allow a local user to write to files on the system with root privileges due to improper initialization of critical variables.

Affected products

Remediation

Vendor solution

IBM strongly recommends addressing the vulnerability now.

AIX and VIOS fixes are available. The AIX and VIOS fixes can be downloaded via https from:

https://aix.software.ibm.com/aix/efixes/security/kerberos_fix.tar  

The link above is to a tar file containing this signed advisory, fix packages, and OpenSSL signatures for each package. The fixes below include prerequisite checking. This will enforce the correct mapping between the fixes and AIX Technology Levels.

You must be on the 'prereq for installation' level before applying the interim fix. This may require installing a new level(prereq version) first from:

https://www.ibm.com/resources/mrs/assets?source=aixbp

AIX LevelInterim FixFileset Name (prereq for installation)7.2, 7.3IJ55344s9a.250722.epkg.Zkrb5.client.rte (1.16.1.7)

VIOS LevelInterim FixFileset Name (prereq for installation)3.1, 4.1IJ55344s9a.250722.epkg.Zkrb5.client.rte (1.16.1.7)

To extract the fixes from the tar file:

tar xvf kerberos_fix.tar

cd kerberos_fix

Verify you have retrieved the fixes intact:

The checksums below were generated using the "openssl dgst -sha256 [filename]" command as the following:

openssl dgst -sha256filename7e771a31c6f02b5635d99e3444c6085c1c67fd744ed00eade1d042134df6bb54IJ55344s9a.250722.epkg.Z

These sums should match exactly. The OpenSSL signatures in the tar file and on this advisory can also be used to verify the integrity of the fixes. If the sums or signatures cannot be confirmed, contact IBM Support at http://ibm.com/support/  and describe the discrepancy.        

openssl dgst -sha256 -verify [pubkey_file] -signature [advisory_file].sig [advisory_file]

openssl dgst -sha256 -verify [pubkey_file] -signature [ifix_file].sig [ifix_file]

Published advisory OpenSSL signature file location:

https://aix.software.ibm.com/aix/efixes/security/kerberos_advisory.asc.sig

Metrics

Weaknesses (1)

References (1)

Change history (0)

No recorded changes yet.

Sources
CVE.org / MITRE
Status PUBLISHED
Assigner ibm
Published Sep 16, 2025
Updated Feb 26, 2026
Reserved Apr 15, 2025
CISA Vulnrichment
Updated Sep 16, 2025
NVD
Status Analyzed
Modified Jun 17, 2026
Red Hat
Severity n/a
Public date n/a