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AnsibleApplication · Redhat

CVE-2020-10744

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-05-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 3.6.4 or later.
See remediation →
50/100
Remediation priority · Moderate

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
An incomplete fix was found for the fix of the flaw CVE-2020-1733 ansible: insecure temporary directory when running become_user from become directive. The provided fix is insufficient to prevent the race condition on systems using ACLs and FUSE filesystems. Ansible Engine 2.7.18, 2.8.12, and 2.9.9 as well as previous versions are affected and Ansible Tower 3.4.5, 3.5.6 and 3.6.4 as well as previous versions are affected.

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 · moderate confidence

This CVE represents an incomplete fix for CVE-2020-1733, a race condition vulnerability in Ansible's handling of insecure temporary directories when running become_user from the become directive. The original fix fails to adequately prevent the race condition on systems using ACLs (Access Control Lists) and FUSE (Filesystem in Userspace) filesystems, allowing potential privilege escalation via tempfile manipulation.

MitigationUpdate to patched versions of Ansible Engine (2.7.19+, 2.8.13+, 2.9.10+) and Ansible Tower (3.4.6+, 3.5.7+, 3.6.5+) when released. As an interim measure, avoid using become_user on systems with ACLs or FUSE filesystems until patches are applied.

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, <= 2.7.18>= 2.8.0, <= 2.8.12>= 2.9.0, <= 2.9.9
Ansible TowerApplication
Affected:>= 3.4.0, <= 3.4.5>= 3.5.0, <= 3.5.6>= 3.6.0, <= 3.6.4

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
High
Privileges
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
Low

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L

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 installed Ansible Engine version
    Run `ansible --version` to identify the exact version number
    Affected if Version is between 2.7.0 and 2.7.18, between 2.8.0 and 2.8.12, or between 2.9.0 and 2.9.9
  2. Check installed Ansible Tower version
    Access the Tower UI under Administration > Settings > About, or check the RPM package version with `rpm -q ansible-tower`
    Affected if Tower version is between 3.4.0 and 3.4.5, between 3.5.0 and 3.5.6, or between 3.6.0 and 3.6.4
  3. Identify playbooks using become_user
    Search playbook repositories for the `become_user` directive using grep: `grep -r 'become_user:' /path/to/playbooks`
    Affected if Any playbook uses `become_user` to switch to a different user during execution
  4. Check if ACLs are enabled on target systems
    Run `getfacl /tmp` on target systems, or check mount output with `mount | grep -i acl`
    Affected if ACL support is present and functional on any filesystem where Ansible creates temporary files
  5. Check if FUSE filesystems are in use
    Run `mount | grep fuse` or check for the presence of `/dev/fuse` and `fusermount` utility on target systems
    Affected if FUSE filesystems are mounted on any target systems where playbooks execute

Environment is affected if Ansible or Tower version falls within the affected ranges AND playbooks use become_user AND target systems have ACLs or FUSE filesystems present.

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 a release after 3.6.4
Interim mitigation

Update to patched versions of Ansible Engine (2.7.19+, 2.8.13+, 2.9.10+) and Ansible Tower (3.4.6+, 3.5.7+, 3.6.5+) when released. As an interim measure, avoid using become_user on systems with ACLs or FUSE filesystems until patches are applied.

Fix this in Ansible Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,720
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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-2020-10744 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