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Medium

Ansible symlink attack vulnerability

  • Disclosed: 28.12.2023
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 13:18

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.

Affected software

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PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Python (PyPI) ansible < 8.5.0 8.5.0

References

CVSS score 6.3/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-22, CWE-36
Platform
Python (PyPI)
Package
ansible
Disclosed
28.12.2023
Updated
11.10.2026 13:18

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - PYSEC-2026-1120 - PyPA Advisory Database; CC BY 4.0

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-jpvw-p8pr-9g2x - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: ansible

All published vulnerabilities of this package (Python (PyPI)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

All (68) in the archive
Total entries
68
First → latest
09.2013 12.2025
Without a fix
2
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • Critical 9
  • High 24
  • Medium 27
  • Low 6
  • Unrated 2

Disclosures per year

earlier: 4

Severity:
  1. Ansible symlink attack vulnerability this entry
    Medium · 6.3 CVE-2023-5115 < 8.5.0 8.5.0
  2. Ansible leaks password to logs
    High · 7.5 CVE-2022-3697 >= 2.5.0, < 7.0.0 7.0.0
  3. Improper Input Validation and Command Injection in Ansible
    High · 7.1 CVE-2021-3583 < 2.9.23rc1, >= 2.10.0a1, < 2.10.11rc1, >= 2.11.0a1, < 2.11.2rc1 2.9.23rc1, 2.10.11rc1, 2.11.2rc1
  4. Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File in ansible
    High · 5.5 CVE-2021-20178 < 2.9.18 2.9.18
  5. Ansible Exposes Sensitive Information
    High · 7.5 CVE-2021-20228 >= 2.10.0a1, < 2.10.6rc1, >= 2.9.0a1, < 2.9.18rc1, < 2.8.19rc1 2.10.6rc1, 2.9.18rc1, 2.8.19rc1
  6. OS Command Injection and Improper Input Validation in ansible
    High · 7.3 CVE-2019-14904 < 2.7.16, >= 2.8.0a1, < 2.8.8, >= 2.9.0a1, < 2.9.3 2.7.16, 2.8.8, 2.9.3
  7. Externally Controlled Reference to a Resource in Another Sphere, Improper Input Validation, and External Control of File Name or Path in Ansible
    High · 5.6 CVE-2019-14905 >= 2.7.0a1, < 2.7.16, >= 2.8.0a1, < 2.8.8, >= 2.9.0a1, < 2.9.3 2.7.16, 2.8.8, 2.9.3
  8. Path Traversal in Ansible
    High · 7.8 CVE-2020-1737 >= 2.8.0a1, < 2.8.9, >= 2.9.0a1, < 2.9.6, < 2.7.17 2.8.9, 2.9.6, 2.7.17
  9. OS Command Injection in ansible
    High · 7.4 CVE-2020-1734 >= 2.10.0a1, < 2.10.0rc1, >= 2.9.0a1, < 2.9.11, < 2.8.13 2.10.0rc1, 2.9.11, 2.8.13
  10. The safe_eval function in Ansible before 1.5.4 does not properly restrict the code subset, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via crafted instructions.
    Critical · 9.8 CVE-2014-4657 < 1.5.4 1.5.4
  11. The safe_eval function in Ansible before 1.6.4 does not properly restrict the code subset, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via crafted instructions. NOTE: this vulnerability ex
    Critical · 9.8 CVE-2014-4678 < 1.6.4 1.6.4
  12. Multiple argument injection vulnerabilities in Ansible before 1.6.7 allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by leveraging access to an Ansible managed host and providing a crafted fact, as de
    Critical · 9.8 CVE-2014-4967 < 1.6.7 1.6.7
  13. Ansible before 1.6.7 does not prevent inventory data with "{{" and "lookup" substrings, and does not prevent remote data with "{{" substrings, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code v
    Critical · 9.8 CVE-2014-4966 < 1.6.7 1.6.7
  14. Ansible prior to 1.5.4 mishandles the evaluation of some strings.
    High · 7.5 CVE-2014-2686 < 1.5.4 1.5.4
  15. ansible before versions 2.8.6, 2.7.14, 2.6.20 is vulnerable to a None
    High · 6.5 CVE-2019-14856 >= 2.6.0, < 2.6.20, >= 2.7.0, < 2.7.14, >= 2.8.0, < 2.8.6 2.6.20, 2.7.14, 2.8.6
  16. Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor in ansible
    High · 6.5 CVE-2019-10217 >= 2.8.0a1, < 2.8.4 2.8.4
  17. ansible-playbook -k and ansible cli tools, all versions 2.8.x before 2.8.4, all 2.7.x before 2.7.13 and all 2.6.x before 2.6.19, prompt passwords by expanding them from templates as they could contain
    High · 6.5 CVE-2019-10206 >= 2.6.0, < 2.6.19, >= 2.7.0, < 2.7.13, >= 2.8.0, < 2.8.4 2.6.19, 2.7.13, 2.8.4
  18. In Ansible, all Ansible Engine versions up to ansible-engine 2.8.5, ansible-engine 2.7.13, ansible-engine 2.6.19, were logging at the DEBUG level which lead to a disclosure of credentials if a plugin
    High · 7.8 CVE-2019-14846 < 2.6.20, >= 2.7.0, < 2.7.14, >= 2.8.0, < 2.8.6 2.6.20, 2.7.14, 2.8.6
  19. ansible before versions 2.5.14, 2.6.11, 2.7.5 is vulnerable to a information disclosure flaw in vvv+ mode with no_log on that can lead to leakage of sensible data.
    High · 5.3 CVE-2018-16876 >= 2.5.0, < 2.5.14, >= 2.6.0, < 2.6.11, >= 2.7.0, < 2.7.5 2.5.14, 2.6.11, 2.7.5
  20. Ansible "User" module leaks any data which is passed on as a parameter to ssh-keygen. This could lean in undesirable situations such as passphrases credentials passed as a parameter for the ssh-keygen
    High · 7.8 CVE-2018-16837 >= 2.7, < 2.7.1, >= 2.6, < 2.6.7, < 2.5.11 2.7.1, 2.6.7, 2.5.11
Show more (14) Showing 20 of 34

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