Quick answers
- Is CVE-2026-81554 exploited in the wild?
- No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-81554 being exploited in the wild.
- How severe is CVE-2026-81554?
- High severity, with a CVSS score of 8.8, published 10 September 2026.
- Which products and versions are affected?
- IBM DataStage 5.4.0.0.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2026-81554?
- 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-2026-81554 attacked?
- It is attacked over the network, in a hosted service.
- Am I affected by CVE-2026-81554?
- Check whether you run IBM DataStage or IBM Datastage On Cloud Pak For Data 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
This vulnerability is a path traversal flaw (CWE-22) in IBM DataStage running on Cloud Pak for Data 5.4.0.0. An authenticated, network-reachable attacker can manipulate absolute file paths to bypass directory restrictions and read arbitrary files outside the intended application directory. The vulnerability requires valid credentials but no additional user interaction. An attacker who exploits this can extract sensitive information, including configuration files, keys, or other data stored on the system. Patch availability has not been explicitly confirmed in the advisory.
Affected products
- IBM DataStage 5.4.0.0
Timeline
- 2026-09-10: disclosed