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AnsibleApplication · Redhat

CVE-2020-10684

HIGH · 7.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-03-24
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2.7.17 / 2.8.9 or later.
See remediation →
73/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 flaw was found in Ansible Engine, all versions 2.7.x, 2.8.x and 2.9.x prior to 2.7.17, 2.8.9 and 2.9.6 respectively, when using ansible_facts as a subkey of itself and promoting it to a variable when inject is enabled, overwriting the ansible_facts after the clean. An attacker could take advantage of this by altering the ansible_facts, such as ansible_hosts, users and any other key data which would lead into privilege escalation or code injection.

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

A vulnerability in Ansible Engine allows ansible_facts to be recursively referenced as a subkey of itself and promoted to a variable when inject is enabled, overwriting the original ansible_facts after the cleanup process. This enables attackers to modify sensitive fact data such as ansible_hosts and users, potentially leading to privilege escalation or code injection.

MitigationUpgrade Ansible Engine to version 2.7.17, 2.8.9, 2.9.6 or later to resolve this vulnerability.

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
AnsibleApplication
Affected:>= 2.7.0, < 2.7.17>= 2.8.0, < 2.8.9>= 2.9.0, < 2.9.6
Ansible TowerApplication
Affected:<= 3.3.5>= 3.5.0, <= 3.5.5>= 3.6.0, <= 3.6.3
OpenstackApplication
Affected:= 10= 13
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 10.0
FedoraOperating system
Affected:= 30= 31= 32

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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. Identify Ansible Engine version
    Run 'ansible --version' or 'ansible-playbook --version' to display the installed Ansible version
    Affected if The version is 2.7.0 through 2.7.16, 2.8.0 through 2.8.8, or 2.9.0 through 2.9.5
  2. Identify Ansible Tower version
    Check the Tower interface under 'Settings' > 'About' or run 'awx-manage --version' from the Tower host
    Affected if The Tower version is 3.3.5 or earlier, 3.5.0 through 3.5.5, or 3.6.0 through 3.6.3
  3. Locate ansible.cfg configuration file
    Search for ansible.cfg in the current directory, home directory, or /etc/ansible/, then inspect the [defaults] and [privilege_escalation] sections
    Affected if The 'inject' setting is present and set to 'True' or 'yes', enabling fact injection
  4. Check for custom fact gathering configurations
    Inspect playbooks and roles for 'gathering' set to 'explicit' or 'smart', and review any custom fact modules that recursively reference ansible_facts
    Affected if Playbooks contain fact manipulation that could recursively nest ansible_facts as a subkey of itself
  5. Verify OpenStack or Debian package versions
    For Redhat OpenStack, run 'openstack --version'; for Debian, run 'dpkg -l | grep ansible' or check installed package versions
    Affected if OpenStack version 10 or 13 is installed, or Debian 10.0 with Ansible packages from affected versions

Your environment is affected if you are running any Ansible Engine version before 2.7.17, 2.8.9, or 2.9.6 (or Ansible Tower 3.3.5/3.5.5/3.6.3 or earlier) with fact injection enabled and using playbooks that could trigger recursive fact overwriting.

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 2.7.17 / 2.8.9 / 2.9.6 or later
Fixed in 2.7.172.8.92.9.6
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Ansible Engine to version 2.7.17, 2.8.9, 2.9.6 or later to resolve this vulnerability.

Fix this in Ansible Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
Get the upgrade done

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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-2020-10684 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