Quick answers
- Is CVE-2026-18835 exploited in the wild?
- No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-18835 being exploited in the wild.
- How severe is CVE-2026-18835?
- Critical severity, with a CVSS score of 9.9, published 20 August 2026.
- Which products and versions are affected?
- IBM Aix 7.2, 7.3; IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2026-18835?
- 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-2026-18835 attacked?
- It is attacked over the network, in an operating system.
- Am I affected by CVE-2026-18835?
- Check whether you run IBM Aix or IBM PowerVM VIOS 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
The vulnerability is an improper neutralization of special elements used in an OS command (CWE-78 command injection) within IBM AIX 7.2, 7.3, and PowerVM VIOS 4.1. The flaw exists in the Network Installation Manager (NIM) component, which fails to properly sanitize user-supplied input before passing it to OS command execution routines. An authenticated remote attacker can exploit this by crafting malicious input containing shell metacharacters to break out of the intended command context and execute arbitrary commands with the privileges of the NIM process. The vulnerability requires valid authentication credentials but operates over the network. Security patches delivered via Service Packs (SPs) and Fix Packs (FPs) are available from IBM.
Affected products
- IBM AIX 7.2, 7.3
- IBM PowerVM VIOS 4.1
Timeline
- 2026-08-20: disclosed: Vulnerability disclosed by IBM