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CVE Record

CVE-2021-38937: IBM PowerVM Hypervisor FW940, FW950, and FW1010 could allow an authenticated user to cause the system to cr...

IBM PowerVM Hypervisor FW940, FW950, and FW1010 could allow an authenticated user to cause the system to crash using a specially crafted IBMi Hypervisor call. IBM X-Force ID: 210894.

MediumCVSS 6.3Not KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysismoderate

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

An authenticated user with low privileges could crash IBM PowerVM systems running listed firmware. The business impact is availability loss, not data theft or modification, based on the provided CVE data. Treat it as a targeted outage risk for affected IBM Power environments.

Executive priority

Prioritize remediation where affected PowerVM hosts support critical workloads or shared user access. This is not presented as an active mass-exploitation issue, but a crash of virtualization infrastructure can create meaningful service disruption.

Technical view

IBM PowerVM Hypervisor FW940, FW950, and FW1010 are affected by a denial-of-service issue triggered through a specially crafted IBMi Hypervisor call. CVSS 3.0 is 6.3: network vector, low privileges required, high complexity, no confidentiality or integrity impact, and high availability impact.

Likely exposure

Exposure is limited to organizations running IBM PowerVM Hypervisor firmware FW940, FW950, or FW1010. The attacker must already be authenticated with low privileges, which reduces broad internet-style exposure but still matters in shared or delegated IBM Power environments.

Exploitation context

The source bundle does not indicate CISA KEV listing or active exploitation. IBM X-Force lists exploit maturity as unproven through the CVSS vector. The risk is primarily a crafted authenticated action causing a system crash, not remote unauthenticated compromise.

Researcher notes

Evidence is concise and vendor-centered. No CWE is provided. The affected surface is an IBMi Hypervisor call, requiring authenticated low-privilege access and high attack complexity. Avoid assuming other firmware streams or IBM products are affected without vendor confirmation.

Mitigation direction

  • Inventory IBM PowerVM systems for FW940, FW950, and FW1010 firmware.
  • Review IBM advisory 6525014 for official remediation instructions.
  • Apply IBM-recommended firmware fixes during a controlled maintenance window.
  • Limit authenticated access to affected IBM Power environments using least privilege.
  • Monitor affected systems for unexplained crashes until remediation is complete.

Validation and detection

  • Confirm whether any PowerVM hosts run FW940, FW950, or FW1010.
  • Check IBM advisory 6525014 against current firmware levels.
  • Verify remediated systems report the expected firmware after maintenance.
  • Review operational logs for unexplained hypervisor or system crashes.
  • Do not test by attempting to trigger the crash in production.
Prepared
Confidence
high
Sources
4

Public sources used

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context

These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.

ATT&CK lookup starting points

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CVE-2021-38937 mapping review

Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
Medium
CVSS
6.3 (3.0)
Known Exploited
No
Published

Vector: CVSS:3.0/S:C/C:N/A:H/AC:H/UI:N/PR:L/I:N/AV:N/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.

1CVSS vectors
0Timeline events
0ADP providers
3Source links

CVSS vector scores

1 official score

We collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.

ScoreVersionSeverityVectorExploitImpactSource
6.3CVSS 3.0MediumCVSS:3.0/S:C/C:N/A:H/AC:H/UI:N/PR:L/I:N/AV:N/E:U/RL:O/RC:C1.84Primary CVE score

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.0 score

6.3Medium
CVSS 3.0 vector shape for CVE-2021-38937Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

Vector: CVSS:3.0/S:C/C:N/A:H/AC:H/UI:N/PR:L/I:N/AV:N/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Attack Vector
NetworkAdjacentLocalPhysical
Attack Complexity
LowHigh
Privileges Required
NoneLowHigh
User Interaction
NoneRequired
Scope
ChangedUnchanged
Confidentiality Impact
HighLowNone
Integrity Impact
HighLowNone
Availability Impact
HighLowNone

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
IBMPowerVM HypervisorFW940, FW950, FW1010Listed
Weakness

CWE details

No CWE listed

CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.