Ansible: malicious role archive can cause ansible-galaxy to overwrite arbitrary files
Priority LOW 30CWE-36Published · Updated
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- Low · High · None
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 4 fixed, 1 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA, GitHub and Red Hat.
Summary
An absolute path traversal attack exists in the Ansible automation platform. This flaw allows an attacker to craft a malicious Ansible role and make the victim execute the role. A symlink can be used to overwrite a file outside of the extraction path.
Why it matters now
EPSS 0.01013 63rd percentileScored 2026-11-08
Fix Partial ansible (PyPI): 8.5.0Red Hat: 2 advisoriesRed Hat: 4 fixed, 1 without a fix
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hat | Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.3 for RHEL 8 | — | 2.14.11-1.el8ap | Patch available | CNA |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.3 for RHEL 8 | — | 2.14.11-1.el8ap | Patch available | CNA |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.3 for RHEL 8 | — | 2.14.11-1.el8ap | Patch available | CNA |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.3 for RHEL 9 | — | 2.14.11-1.el9ap | Patch available | CNA |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.3 for RHEL 9 | — | 2.14.11-1.el9ap | Patch available | CNA |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.3 for RHEL 9 | — | 2.14.11-1.el9ap | Patch available | CNA |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 8 | — | 2.15.5-1.el8ap | Patch available | CNA |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 8 | — | 2.15.5-1.el8ap | Patch available | CNA |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 8 | — | 2.15.5-1.el8ap | Patch available | CNA |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 9 | — | 2.15.5-1.el9ap | Patch available | CNA |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 9 | — | 2.15.5-1.el9ap | Patch available | CNA |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 9 | — | 2.15.5-1.el9ap | Patch available | CNA |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 1.2 | — | — | No fix listed | CNA |
| — | ansible (PyPI) | before 8.5.0 | 8.5.0 | Patch available | GHSA-jpvw-p8pr-9g2x |
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.3 for RHEL 8 VendorRed Hat Affected — Fixed in 2.14.11-1.el8ap Patch available CNA
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.3 for RHEL 8 VendorRed Hat Affected — Fixed in 2.14.11-1.el8ap Patch available CNA
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.3 for RHEL 8 VendorRed Hat Affected — Fixed in 2.14.11-1.el8ap Patch available CNA
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.3 for RHEL 9 VendorRed Hat Affected — Fixed in 2.14.11-1.el9ap Patch available CNA
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.3 for RHEL 9 VendorRed Hat Affected — Fixed in 2.14.11-1.el9ap Patch available CNA
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.3 for RHEL 9 VendorRed Hat Affected — Fixed in 2.14.11-1.el9ap Patch available CNA
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 8 VendorRed Hat Affected — Fixed in 2.15.5-1.el8ap Patch available CNA
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 8 VendorRed Hat Affected — Fixed in 2.15.5-1.el8ap Patch available CNA
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 8 VendorRed Hat Affected — Fixed in 2.15.5-1.el8ap Patch available CNA
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 9 VendorRed Hat Affected — Fixed in 2.15.5-1.el9ap Patch available CNA
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 9 VendorRed Hat Affected — Fixed in 2.15.5-1.el9ap Patch available CNA
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 9 VendorRed Hat Affected — Fixed in 2.15.5-1.el9ap Patch available CNA
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 1.2 VendorRed Hat Affected — Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
- ansible (PyPI) Vendor— Affected before 8.5.0 Fixed in 8.5.0 Patch available GHSA-jpvw-p8pr-9g2x
CPE configurations NVD · 10
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:1.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 1.2 | Vulnerable | Red Hat |
| cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 2.3 | Vulnerable | Red Hat |
| cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 2.4 | Vulnerable | Red Hat |
| cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 8.0 | Running on | Red Hat |
| cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 9.0 | Running on | Red Hat |
| cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_inside:1.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 1.1 | Vulnerable | Red Hat |
| cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_inside:1.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 1.2 | Vulnerable | Red Hat |
| cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_developer:1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 1.0 | Vulnerable | Red Hat |
| cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_developer:1.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 1.1 | Vulnerable | Red Hat |
| cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 10.0 | Vulnerable | Debian |
- cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:1.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 1.2 Vulnerable ·Red Hat
- cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 2.3 Vulnerable ·Red Hat
- cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_automation_platform:2.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 2.4 Vulnerable ·Red Hat
- cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 8.0 Running on ·Red Hat
- cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 9.0 Running on ·Red Hat
- cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_inside:1.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 1.1 Vulnerable ·Red Hat
- cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_inside:1.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 1.2 Vulnerable ·Red Hat
- cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_developer:1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 1.0 Vulnerable ·Red Hat
- cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_developer:1.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 1.1 Vulnerable ·Red Hat
- cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 10.0 Vulnerable ·Debian
Remediation
- Fix · GHSA-jpvw-p8pr-9g2x ansible (PyPI) Fixed in 8.5.0 Advisory →
Red Hat 2 advisories
- RHSA-2023:5758 Released 2023-10-16 · Red Hat rating ModerateRed Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 Product Security and Bug Fix Update
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 8 ansible-core-2.15.5-1.el8ap, automation-controller-venv-tower-4.4.6-1.el8ap, python39-django-3.2.22-1.el8ap +1
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 9 ansible-core-2.15.5-1.el9ap, automation-controller-venv-tower-4.4.6-1.el9ap, python-django-3.2.22-1.el9ap +1
- RHSA-2023:5701 Released 2023-10-16 · Red Hat rating ModerateRed Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.3 Product Security and Bug Fix Update
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.3 for RHEL 8 ansible-core-2.14.11-1.el8ap, automation-controller-venv-tower-4.3.16-1.el8ap
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.3 for RHEL 9 ansible-core-2.14.11-1.el9ap, automation-controller-venv-tower-4.3.16-1.el9ap
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 1.2 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.3 for RHEL 8 | Fixed | RHSA-2023:5701 |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.3 for RHEL 9 | Fixed | RHSA-2023:5701 |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 8 | Fixed | RHSA-2023:5758 |
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 9 | Fixed | RHSA-2023:5758 |
Not affected: 4 products
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.3 for RHEL 8
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.3 for RHEL 9
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 8
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 9
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2023-5115
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-jpvw-p8pr-9g2x
- 2026-11-07 Affected versions changed · CNA
References
Advisory 4
Other 5
- RHBZ#2233810
- https://github.com/ansible/ansible/commit/1e930684bc0a76ec3d094cd326738ad26416541c
- https://github.com/ansible-community/ansible-build-data/blob/16d36538b96c65d9e0e28d89781361b69857ac0e/8/CHANGELOG-v8.rst#L221
- https://github.com/ansible/ansible
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/12/msg00018.html
More Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vulnerabilities
- TI-2023-23979 The HTTP/2 protocol allows a denial of service (server resource consumption) because… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-35991 Starlette has missing Host header validation that poisons request.url.path, bypassing path-based security checks KEVCVSS 3.1MEDIUM 6.5
- TI-2026-34281 JavaScript Cookie: Per-instance prototype hijack in assign() enables cookie-attribute injection CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-28834 jq: Out-of-Bounds Read in jv_parse_sized() Error Formatting for Non-NUL-Terminated Counted Buffers CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 6.9
- TI-2026-32429 Axios: Credential Theft and Response Hijacking via Prototype Pollution Gadget in Config Merge CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.7
- TI-2023-27712 Python-cryptography: bleichenbacher timing oracle attack against rsa decryption - incomplete fix for cve-2020-25659 CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
Sources
- CVE-2023-5115 · CVE Program
- CVE-2023-5115 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-jpvw-p8pr-9g2x · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2023-5115 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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