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Ansible TowerApplication · Redhat

CVE-2016-7070

HIGH · 8.0 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-09-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.0.3 or later.
See remediation →
82/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
A privilege escalation flaw was found in the Ansible Tower. When Tower before 3.0.3 deploys a PostgreSQL database, it incorrectly configures the trust level of postgres user. An attacker could use this vulnerability to gain admin level access to the database.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Ansible Tower before 3.0.3 misconfigures PostgreSQL authentication during database deployment by setting the 'trust' authentication method for the postgres user, allowing any local user to connect as the database superuser without authentication.

MitigationUpgrade Ansible Tower to version 3.0.3 or later, or manually reconfigure PostgreSQL pg_hba.conf to use secure authentication (md5 or scram-sha-256) instead of trust for the postgres user.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Ansible TowerApplication
Affected:< 3.0.3

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Adjacent
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check Ansible Tower version
    Run 'awx-manage --version' or inspect /etc/ansible-tower/version
    Affected if Version is below 3.0.3
  2. Locate PostgreSQL pg_hba.conf
    Find the pg_hba.conf file used by the Tower-managed PostgreSQL instance, typically in /var/lib/pgsql/data or /opt/postgres/data
    Affected if File cannot be located (PostgreSQL may not be Tower-deployed)
  3. Inspect postgres user authentication method
    Read pg_hba.conf and search for lines specifying authentication method 'trust' for user 'postgres' on 'local' connection type
    Affected if Any entry shows 'trust' authentication for the postgres user on local socket connections

Environment is affected if Ansible Tower version is below 3.0.3 AND pg_hba.conf contains 'trust' authentication for the postgres user on local connections.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 3.0.3 or later
Fixed in 3.0.3
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Ansible Tower to version 3.0.3 or later, or manually reconfigure PostgreSQL pg_hba.conf to use secure authentication (md5 or scram-sha-256) instead of trust for the postgres user.

Fix this in Ansible Tower Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-7070 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data