CVE-2026-18669
HighCVSS 8.8Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Elevated risk54th percentile - higher than 54% of all known CVEs
Summary
IBM i 7.6, 7.5, 7.4, and 7.3 is vulnerable to a privilege escalation as the result of a remote code execution vulnerability in the activation engine component. An authenticated attacker can execute a maliciously planted script with root authority.
Risk Assessment
Risk of full system compromise, as an attacker can execute commands with root privileges, potentially leading to system takeover.
Recommendation
Apply IBM i patches and restrict access to the activation engine component to trusted users only.
Other vulnerabilities in IBM i
See all- CVE-2026-93744Medium
IBM i 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, and 7.6 could allow an unauthenticated remote attacker to bypass security restrictions due to improper access control. By sending a specially crafted HTTP request to any URL within the Navigator application prior to authentication, a bad actor could exploit this vulnerability to alter server-side session security state.
- CVE-2026-96119Critical
IBM i versions 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, and 7.6 could allow a remote authenticated attacker to obtain sensitive information or execute arbitrary code on the system due to improper data sanitization by the HTTP Server Administration web application.
- CVE-2026-17083Critical
IBM i 7.6, 7.5, 7.4, and 7.3 could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code due to a stack-based buffer overflow.
- CVE-2026-17276Critical
IBM i 7.6, 7.5, 7.4, and 7.3 could allow a remote authenticated attacker to escalate privileges due to improper authorization in the handling of high-authority threads.
- CVE-2026-17218Critical
IBM i 7.6, 7.5, 7.4, and 7.3 could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code due to an out-of-bounds write.
- CVE-2026-16860Critical
IBM i 7.6, 7.5, 7.4, and 7.3 could allow a remote authenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code due to an uncontrolled search path element.
- CVE-2026-17491Medium
IBM i versions 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, and 7.6 could allow a remote authenticated attacker to bypass security restrictions due to improper enforcement of the ChrootDirectory configuration directive.
- CVE-2026-17488Medium
IBM i versions 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, and 7.6 could allow a remote authenticated attacker to bypass security restrictions due to improper authentication.
- CVE-2026-17275Low
IBM i 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, and 7.6 could allow a remote attacker to perform unauthorized manipulation of distributed transactions due to improper validation of attacker-supplied transaction identifiers.
- CVE-2026-17073Medium
IBM i versions 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, and 7.6 could allow a local attacker to obtain sensitive information due to missing subtree checks during file handle resolution.
Original NVD description (English source)
IBM i 7.6, 7.5, 7.4, and 7.3 is vulnerable to a privilege escalation as the result of a remote code execution vulnerability in the activation engine component. An authenticated attacker can execute a maliciously planted script with root authority.
Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS

