CVE-2024-6840
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 · uneditedAn improper authorization flaw exists in the Ansible Automation Controller. This flaw allows an attacker using the k8S API server to send an HTTP request with a service account token mounted via `automountServiceAccountToken: true`, resulting in privilege escalation to a service account.
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 confidenceAn improper authorization flaw in Ansible Automation Controller allows privilege escalation via the k8s API server. Attackers can send HTTP requests using service account tokens mounted when automountServiceAccountToken is set to true, bypassing proper authorization controls and gaining elevated privileges to the service account.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
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
- High
- Privileges
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Ansible Automation Controller deploymentRun 'kubectl get pods -A | grep -i ansible' or check your Kubernetes namespace for Ansible Automation Controller podsAffected if Ansible Automation Controller pods are running in the cluster
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Check automountServiceAccountToken settingRun 'kubectl get serviceaccounts -A -o jsonpath="{.items[*].automountServiceAccountToken}"' or inspect individual service account YAML definitions for the automountServiceAccountToken fieldAffected if Any service account used by Ansible Automation Controller has automountServiceAccountToken set to true
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Verify service account token availability in podsExec into an Ansible Automation Controller pod with 'kubectl exec -it <pod-name> -- sh' and check if /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/ token files existAffected if Service account tokens are mounted and readable inside the pods
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Check if controller can access Kubernetes APIFrom within the Ansible Automation Controller pod, attempt to query the Kubernetes API with 'curl -k https://kubernetes.default.svc' or check if KUBERNETES_SERVICE_HOST environment variable is setAffected if The controller pod has network access to the Kubernetes API server and can use the mounted service account token for authentication
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Review RBAC permissions on the service accountRun 'kubectl auth can-i --list --as=system:serviceaccount:<namespace>:<service-account-name>' to check the permissions granted to the controller's service accountAffected if The service account has elevated permissions beyond what is strictly required for its intended function
If Ansible Automation Controller is running with automountServiceAccountToken set to true and has access to the Kubernetes API, the environment is potentially affected by this authorization bypass vulnerability.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataSet automountServiceAccountToken to false for service accounts that do not require Kubernetes API access, or apply any available vendor patches for Ansible Automation Controller that address this authorization bypass.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-6840 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-6840 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
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