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Ansible Automation ControllerApplication · Redhat

CVE-2023-3971

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-10-04
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.3.11 or later.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable

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 HTML injection flaw was found in Controller in the user interface settings. This flaw allows an attacker to capture credentials by creating a custom login page by injecting HTML, resulting in a complete compromise.

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

HTML injection vulnerability in the Controller's user interface settings allows attackers to inject arbitrary HTML content, enabling creation of fraudulent custom login pages to harvest user credentials and achieve full account compromise.

MitigationImplement strict input validation and output encoding for all user-supplied content in UI settings; apply Content Security Policy headers to prevent injection exploitation.

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 Automation ControllerApplication
Affected:< 4.3.11= 4.4
Ansible Automation PlatformApplication
Affected:= 2.3= 2.4
Ansible DeveloperApplication
Affected:= 1.0
Ansible InsideApplication
Affected:= 1.1

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

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

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 the installed Ansible product and version
    Run 'ansible-controller --version' or check the UI footer for the version number. For Ansible Platform, check /etc/redhat-release or the operator deployment manifest.
    Affected if The version is Ansible Automation Controller < 4.3.11, = 4.4, or Ansible Automation Platform = 2.3 or = 2.4, or Ansible Developer = 1.0, or Ansible Inside = 1.1
  2. Verify Controller UI access is enabled
    Confirm the Ansible Controller web UI is accessible by navigating to the hostname in a browser. Check if the /api endpoint returns a valid response indicating the Controller is operational.
    Affected if The Controller UI is accessible and the version is in the affected range listed above
  3. Inspect custom login page settings
    Log into the Controller as an admin, navigate to Settings > Authentication settings, and examine any custom login template or custom logo settings. Use the API: GET /api/v2/settings/ui/ to retrieve UI-related configuration.
    Affected if Custom login page settings exist and contain user-supplied HTML content that has not been properly sanitized
  4. Check for unauthorized custom login pages
    Review the authentication configuration for any unexpected custom_login_page or custom_logo settings. Compare against documented baseline configurations or backup configurations.
    Affected if Custom login page configurations point to unfamiliar URLs, templates, or contain suspicious HTML markup not authored by your team
  5. Audit recent authentication settings changes
    Check the activity stream or audit logs for recent modifications to UI settings, specifically authentication-related settings. Use: GET /api/v2/activity_stream/?actor=<admin>&object_type=settings
    Affected if Recent changes to authentication or UI settings were made by unexpected users or from unexpected IP addresses

You are affected if you are running any of the listed product versions AND the Controller UI is accessible with custom login page settings that contain unsanitized HTML content.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 4.3.11 or later
Fixed in 4.3.11
Interim mitigation

Implement strict input validation and output encoding for all user-supplied content in UI settings; apply Content Security Policy headers to prevent injection exploitation.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Ansible Automation Controller 4.4+ or 4.3.11+; Ansible Automation Platform 2.4.1+

  1. 1. Identify the exact version of Ansible Automation Controller or Platform currently installed
  2. 2. For Ansible Automation Controller: upgrade to version 4.4 or later to address the HTML injection vulnerability in UI settings
  3. 3. For Ansible Automation Platform: upgrade to version 2.4.1 or later, or apply the latest security errata from Red Hat
  4. 4. For Ansible Developer and Ansible Inside: apply latest Red Hat security updates available for those specific product versions
  5. 5. After upgrade, verify the fix by reviewing the controller settings UI for any injected HTML that may have been present
  6. 6. Audit user accounts and credential configurations to ensure no compromise occurred during the vulnerability window
Caveat Review Ansible automation job templates and integrations after upgrade as minor behavioral changes between major versions may occur

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Ansible Automation Controller Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.

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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-2023-3971 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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