Auth bypass in IBM Power System E1080 \(9080-Hex\) Firmware

CVE-2026-16938

IBM Power Systems Firmware FW1120.00, FW1110.00 through FW1110.30, FW1060.00 through FW1060.80, and FW950.00 through FW950.H2 is affected by a vulnerability in access controls over privileged system configuration operations on the FSP. An attacker with authenticated administrator-level access to the FSP can place the managed system into a non-production operational mode, allowing certain system components to be disabled. This condition persists across FSP resets and requires explicit operator intervention — clearing the affected configuration — to restore normal operation. Successful exploitation results in an availability impact to the managed system.

Vulnerability class: Broken Access Control

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 6.9 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.002 (12.0th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 12th percentile — 12.0% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-16938: held from 0.001 to 0.002.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.001 · newest: 0.002 · change: +0.001

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-16938?
CVE-2026-16938 is a medium-severity vulnerability in IBM Power System E1080 \(9080-Hex\) Firmware, classified under Missing Authorization. CVSS score: 6.9/10. Published 2026-08-19.
How severe is CVE-2026-16938?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.9 out of 10.