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Power System S922 \(9009 22a\) FirmwareOperating system · Ibm

CVE-2018-1992

MEDIUM · 6.4 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-03-21
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
66/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
The IBM Power 9 OP910, OP920, and FW910 boot firmware's bootloader is responsible for loading and validating the initial boot firmware image that drives the rest of the system's hardware initialization. The bootloader firmware contains a buffer overflow vulnerability such that, if an attacker were able to replace the initial boot firmware image with a very carefully crafted and sufficiently large, malicious replacement, it could cause the bootloader, during the load of that image, to overwrite its own instruction memory and circumvent secure boot protections, install trojans, etc. IBM X-Force ID: 154345.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

The IBM Power 9 OP910, OP920, and FW910 boot firmware contains a buffer overflow vulnerability in its bootloader. When the bootloader loads a maliciously crafted initial boot firmware image, it can overflow and overwrite its own instruction memory, bypassing secure boot protections and allowing trojan installation.

MitigationApply IBM firmware patches when available and ensure physical security controls are in place to prevent unauthorized firmware modification. Verify secure boot configuration is properly enabled after patching.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Power System S922 \(9009 22a\) FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< fw910.10
Power System H922 \(9223 22h\) FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< fw910.10
Power System S914 \(9009 41a\) FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< fw910.10
Power System S924 \(9009 42a\) FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< fw910.10
Power System H924 \(9223 42h\) FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< fw910.10
Power System L922 \(9008 22l\) FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< fw910.10
Power System Ac922 \(8335 Gtg\) FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< op910.30
Power System Ac922 \(8335 Gth\) FirmwareOperating system
Affected:< op920.10

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
High
Privileges
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the IBM Power System model
    Locate the machine type and model number on the system hardware label, or query the BMC/Host for the system identifier (e.g., 9009-22A, 8335-GTG)
    Affected if The model matches one of: 9009-22A, 9223-22H, 9009-41A, 9009-42A, 9223-42H, 9008-22L, 8335-GTG, or 8335-GTH
  2. Retrieve the current firmware version
    Use the IBM Advanced System Management Interface (ASMI) or run 'lsprop -s /proc/device-tree/model' and 'lsprop -s /proc/device-tree/ibm,firmware-version' from the host OS, or query via IPMI/Redfish
    Affected if A firmware version is returned that is lower than the patched releases
  3. Compare firmware version against affected ranges for AC922 (8335-GTG)
    If model is 8335-GTG, compare installed version to op910.30
    Affected if Installed version is earlier than op910.30 or contains a version number less than 30 in the op910 line
  4. Compare firmware version against affected ranges for AC922 (8335-GTH)
    If model is 8335-GTH, compare installed version to op920.10
    Affected if Installed version is earlier than op920.10 or contains a version number less than 10 in the op920 line
  5. Compare firmware version against affected ranges for other Power 9 models
    For models 9009-22A, 9223-22H, 9009-41A, 9009-42A, 9223-42H, 9008-22L, compare to fw910.10
    Affected if Installed version is earlier than fw910.10 or contains a version number less than 10 in the fw910 line

You are affected if your IBM Power 9 system model is in the list AND its firmware version is below fw910.10 (for 9009/9223/9008 models), below op910.30 (for 8335-GTG), or below op920.10 (for 8335-GTH).

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply IBM firmware patches when available and ensure physical security controls are in place to prevent unauthorized firmware modification. Verify secure boot configuration is properly enabled after patching.

Fix this in Power System S922 \(9009 22a\) Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,600
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-1992 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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