Quick answers
- Is CVE-2026-16967 exploited in the wild?
- No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-16967 being exploited in the wild.
- How severe is CVE-2026-16967?
- High severity, with a CVSS score of 8.5, published 13 August 2026.
- Which products and versions are affected?
- IBM I 7.3 7.3; IBM I 7.4 7.4; IBM I 7.5 7.5; IBM I 7.6 7.6.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2026-16967?
- No fixed version is recorded yet. Check the vendor's advisory in the references below. If you run it, Junglewise drafts a mitigation that fits your setup and applies it once you approve, with senior security engineers behind it.
- How is CVE-2026-16967 attacked?
- It is attacked over the network, in an operating system.
- Am I affected by CVE-2026-16967?
- Check whether you run IBM I 7.3, IBM I 7.4, IBM I 7.5 or one of the others listed at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.
Technical details
A time-of-check time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition in IBM i's symbolic link handling allows an authenticated network attacker to bypass authorization checks and access system objects they should not be permitted to access. The vulnerability occurs because the system checks permissions at one point in time, but an attacker can swap a symbolic link between the check and the actual file access. The attack requires authenticated access (PR:L), has high complexity (AC:H), but can result in complete confidentiality, integrity, and availability compromise across security boundaries (S:C). IBM has released PTFs (Program Temporary Fixes) for all affected versions (7.3, 7.4, 7.5, and 7.6).
Affected products
- IBM i 7.3 7.3
- IBM i 7.4 7.4
- IBM i 7.5 7.5
- IBM i 7.6 7.6
Timeline
- 2026-08-11: disclosed: IBM Security Bulletin initially published
- 2026-08-13: other: Advisory published (CVE-2026-16967)