CVE-2026-81545 — Datastage On Cloud Pak For Data
HIGHCVE-2026-81545 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.8) OS Command Injection vulnerability in ibm datastage on cloud pak for data. No vendor fix is recorded yet; mitigation options are listed below.
IBM DataStage on Cloud Pak for Data 5.4.0.0 could allow a remote authenticated attacker to execute arbitrary commands due to improper neutralization of special elements used in an OS command.
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2026-81545.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2026-81545 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 386,684 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Description
IBM DataStage on Cloud Pak for Data 5.4.0.0 could allow a remote authenticated attacker to execute arbitrary commands due to improper neutralization of special elements used in an OS command.
Affected Products
datastage on cloud pak for dataibmDetection & mitigation playbook
Vendor / applianceDetect
Inventory every ibm datastage on cloud pak for data deployment and check each version against the affected-products list above.
Remediation status
No patch has shipped for CVE-2026-81545 yet — track the ibm datastage on cloud pak for data advisory for a fixed release and apply the workarounds below in the meantime.
Mitigate without a patch
Stop passing untrusted input into the interpreter or shell: call the affected binary with an argument array rather than a composed command string, reject anything outside a strict allowlist of expected values, and run the component under an account that cannot reach beyond the work it legitimately does. Alongside that, restrict the management interface to trusted networks and apply the vendor's recommended configuration mitigations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-81545 being exploited in your environment?
Detect and block the exploit chain at execution, on systems you cannot patch yet.