What is CVE-2016-5985?

CVE-2016-5985 is a high-severity vulnerability in IBM Aix, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2017-02-01.

How severe is CVE-2016-5985?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.

Buffer overflow in IBM Aix

CVE-2016-5985

The IBM Tivoli Storage Manager (IBM Spectrum Protect) AIX client is vulnerable to a buffer overflow when Journal-Based Backup is enabled. A local attacker could overflow a buffer and execute arbitrary code on the system or cause a system crash.

Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow

Published 2017-02-01 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.004 (36.5th percentile), scored 2026-11-01.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 36th percentile — 36.5% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.004 · newest: 0.004 · change: 0.000

Affected products

IBM Aix
IBM Tivoli Storage Manager — versions 7.1.0.0, 6.4.0.0, 6.3.0.0
IBM Corporation Tivoli Storage Manager — versions 5.1.1, 5.3.5.3, 5.3.3

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-119 — Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer

References

www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss (Patch, Vendor Advisory)
www.securityfocus.com/bid/94808 (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, vdb-entry)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2016-5985?: CVE-2016-5985 is a high-severity vulnerability in IBM Aix, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2017-02-01.
How severe is CVE-2016-5985?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.