CVE-2014-3977

IBM AIX 6.1/7.1 & VIOS 2.2.x - Local Privilege Escalation

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

EIP tracks 1 public exploit for CVE-2014-3977. PoCs published by Portcullis.

AI-analyzed exploit summary The exploit demonstrates a privilege escalation vulnerability in IBM AIX by leveraging a race condition in libodm. It creates a symlink to a target file (e.g., /etc/pwned) and exploits a time-of-check, time-of-use (TOCTOU) race to achieve arbitrary file writes with elevated privileges.

Description

libodm.a in IBM AIX 6.1 and 7.1, and VIOS 2.2.x, allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on a temporary file. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2012-2179.

Exploits (1)

exploitdb WORKING POC VERIFIED
by Portcullis · textlocalaix
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/33725

The exploit demonstrates a privilege escalation vulnerability in IBM AIX by leveraging a race condition in libodm. It creates a symlink to a target file (e.g., /etc/pwned) and exploits a time-of-check, time-of-use (TOCTOU) race to achieve arbitrary file writes with elevated privileges.

Classification
Working Poc 95%
Attack Type
Lpe
Complexity
Moderate
Reliability
Racy
Target: IBM AIX 6.1.8 and later
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Access to a vulnerable IBM AIX system · Ability to execute arbitrary code on the target system
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 18, 2026 Full analysis →

References (12)

Core 12
Core References
Various Sources vendor-advisory x_refsource_aixapar
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg1IV60312
Various Sources vendor-advisory x_refsource_aixapar
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg1IV60314
Various Sources vendor-advisory x_refsource_aixapar
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg1IV60299
Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry vdb-entry x_refsource_xf
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/93595
Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry vdb-entry x_refsource_sectrack
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1030401
Various Sources vendor-advisory x_refsource_aixapar
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg1IV60313
Exploit, Third Party Advisory exploit x_refsource_exploit-db
http://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/33725
Various Sources vendor-advisory x_refsource_aixapar
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg1IV60303
Various Sources vendor-advisory x_refsource_aixapar
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg1IV60311

Scores

EPSS 0.0087
EPSS Percentile 54.1%

Details

CWE
CWE-59
Status published
Products (18)
ibm/aix 6.1
ibm/aix 7.1
ibm/vios 2.2.0.10
ibm/vios 2.2.0.11
ibm/vios 2.2.0.12
ibm/vios 2.2.0.13
ibm/vios 2.2.1.0
ibm/vios 2.2.1.1
ibm/vios 2.2.1.3
ibm/vios 2.2.1.4 (2 CPE variants)
... and 8 more
Published Jun 08, 2014
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026