Red Hat Ansible User improper authorization

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability categorized as critical has been discovered in Red Hat Ansible. The impacted element is an unknown function of the component User Module. Executing a manipulation can lead to improper authorization. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2024-9902. The attack can be launched remotely. No exploit exists. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Red Hat Ansible (affected version unknown). This vulnerability affects an unknown functionality of the component User Module. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a improper authorization vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-285. The product does not perform or incorrectly performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action. As an impact it is known to affect integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

A flaw was found in Ansible. The ansible-core `user` module can allow an unprivileged user to silently create or replace the contents of any file on any system path and take ownership of it when a privileged user executes the `user` module against the unprivileged user's home directory. If the unprivileged user has traversal permissions on the directory containing the exploited target file, they retain full control over the contents of the file as its owner.

The advisory is shared for download at bugzilla.redhat.com. This vulnerability was named CVE-2024-9902 since 10/12/2024. The exploitation appears to be difficult. The attack can be initiated remotely. There are neither technical details nor an exploit publicly available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 07/05/2025). The MITRE ATT&CK project declares the attack technique as T1548.002.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 211764 (RHEL 8 / 9 : Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 Product Release Update (Moderate) (RHSA-2024:9894)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading eliminates this vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (211764) and EUVD (EUVD-2024-3182). VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

Productinfo

Vendor

• Red Hat

Name

• Ansible

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.redhat.com/

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VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

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