Ansible Automation PlatformApplication · Redhat
CVE-2025-57847
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 · uneditedA container privilege escalation flaw was found in certain Ansible Automation Platform images. This issue arises from the /etc/passwd file being created with group-writable permissions during the build process. In certain conditions, an attacker who can execute commands within an affected container, even as a non-root user, can leverage their membership in the root group to modify the /etc/passwd file. This vulnerability allows an attacker to add a new user with any arbitrary UID, including UID 0, gaining full root privileges within the container.
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 confidenceThis vulnerability exists in Ansible Automation Platform container images where the /etc/passwd file is created with group-writable permissions (likely 0644 or similar) during the build process. A non-root user who is a member of the 'root' group can modify /etc/passwd to add a new user with UID 0, effectively gaining root privileges within the container.
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 PlatformApplication
<= 2.6CVSS 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
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the Ansible Automation Platform versionRun 'ansible-core --version' or check the image metadata with 'cat /etc/ansible/*release*' or inspect container labelsAffected if The installed version is 2.6 or lower (the vulnerability affects versions <= 2.6)
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Verify /etc/passwd file permissionsRun 'ls -la /etc/passwd' and examine the group permissions columnAffected if The group permission bits include write (the mode shows something like 0664 or similar where the group has write permission, not 0644 or stricter)
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Check current user group membershipRun 'id' or 'groups' to see which groups the current user belongs toAffected if The output shows the user is a member of the root group (gid 0) or the 'root' group is listed among the user's groups
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Inspect /etc/passwd for unauthorized UID 0 entriesRun 'grep ':0:' /etc/passwd' to list all users with UID 0Affected if More than the expected root user entries appear, or entries exist that were not added by the system administrator
A user is affected if they are running Ansible Automation Platform <= 2.6 in a container where /etc/passwd has group-write permissions and the user is a member of the root group, allowing modification of /etc/passwd to add UID 0 users.
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 dataRebuild the affected container images with corrected /etc/passwd permissions (removing group-write access, typically setting to 0644 or 0645) in the Dockerfile or build process, then redeploy the images.
Fix this in Ansible Automation Platform
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,360.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-57847 — 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-2025-57847 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
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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