Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform/Ansible Core User User.ssh_key_gen symlink

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as problematic was found in Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform and Ansible Core. Affected by this issue is the function User.ssh_key_gen of the component User Module. The manipulation results in symlink. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-123037. The attack needs to be approached locally. There is no available exploit.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform and Ansible Core (version unknown). It has been classified as problematic. Affected is the function User.ssh_key_gen of the component User Module. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a symlink vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-61. The product, when opening a file or directory, does not sufficiently account for when the file is a symbolic link that resolves to a target outside of the intended control sphere. This could allow an attacker to cause the product to operate on unauthorized files. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

A flaw was found in the ansible-core user module. When generate_ssh_key is enabled, User.ssh_key_gen() guards the key files against symlinks but checks the ~/.ssh directory only with os.path.exists(). An unprivileged user on a managed node who replaces their ~/.ssh with a symlink to an existing root-writable directory causes the privileged module to write the generated key pair through the symlink and then chown both files to that user. Because such files can be dropped into directories processed by schedulers (e.g. /etc/cron.daily) or dynamic MOTD (/etc/update-motd.d), the user can escalate to root on the managed node. This is an incomplete fix of CVE-2024-9902.

The advisory is available at access.redhat.com. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-123037 since 11/05/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. Local access is required to approach this attack. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit. The structure of the vulnerability defines a possible price range of USD $5k-$25k at the moment (estimation calculated on 11/06/2026).

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

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Productinfo

Type

• Automation Software

Vendor

• Red Hat

Name

• Ansible Automation Platform
• Ansible Core

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.redhat.com/

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