Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2021-38995 is a local denial-of-service issue in the IBM AIX kernel affecting AIX 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, and VIOS 3.1. A person with local access could cause an outage. It is not described as data theft or remote takeover.
Executive priority
Treat this as a planned remediation item for critical AIX and VIOS systems. Urgency rises where many users share local access or outages would disrupt business services.
Technical view
IBM reports that a non-privileged local user can exploit an AIX kernel vulnerability to cause denial of service. CVSS 3.0 score is 6.2, with local attack vector, low complexity, no user interaction, and high availability impact only.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely on systems running IBM AIX 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, or VIOS 3.1 where local users or workloads can access the host.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show CISA KEV listing or active exploitation. The CVSS vector indicates local access is required and exploitation affects availability, not confidentiality or integrity.
Researcher notes
No CWE is listed in the bundle. Public details are limited to IBM’s kernel denial-of-service description and X-Force ID 213073. Avoid assuming remote reachability or privilege escalation without additional vendor evidence.
Mitigation direction
- Review IBM advisory 6558948 for affected levels and official remediation.
- Apply IBM-provided fixes or maintenance levels identified in vendor guidance.
- Restrict local shell access to trusted users where feasible.
- Prioritize shared, production, and VIOS-hosted environments with high uptime requirements.
Validation and detection
- Inventory AIX and VIOS versions across production and shared infrastructure.
- Compare installed levels against IBM advisory 6558948.
- Confirm whether untrusted or broad local access exists on affected hosts.
- Review monitoring for unexpected crashes, reboots, or kernel-related availability events.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
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
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CVE-2021-38995 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 6.2 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/I:N/UI:N/C:N/A:H/AV:L/AC:L/S:U/PR:N/RL:O/RC:C/E:U
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.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe 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.
CVSS:3.0/I:N/UI:N/C:N/A:H/AV:L/AC:L/S:U/PR:N/RL:O/RC:C/E:U2.53.6Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
6.2MediumVector: CVSS:3.0/I:N/UI:N/C:N/A:H/AV:L/AC:L/S:U/PR:N/RL:O/RC:C/E:U
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6558948CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- ibm-aix-cve202138995-dos (213073)CVE reference · vdb-entry, x_refsource_XF
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.