CVE-2026-84718: Automation-controller: automation-controller: client ip spoofing in audit/access logs via unrestricted x-forwarded-for trust

Severity: medium (CVSS 4.3 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-09-23 · updated 2026-09-24
Weakness: CWE-348

Description

A flaw was found in the Ansible Automation Platform automation-controller. In the shipped production configuration, the Controller trusts the client-supplied X-Forwarded-For header as the request's client IP without verifying that it originated from a trusted proxy, and selects the leftmost (attacker-controlled) header value. As a result, an attacker can forge the source IP address recorded for their requests in the Controller's audit and access logs, degrading the integrity of forensic and SIEM attribution. The flaw does not grant additional access.

Affected products

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8: all versions — fixed in 0:4.6.33-1.el8ap
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 9: all versions — fixed in 0:4.6.33-1.el9ap
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6: all versions — fixed in 1789673739
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 9: all versions — fixed in 0:4.7.17-1.el9ap
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.7: all versions — fixed in 1789580684

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8 0:4.6.33-1.el8ap; Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 9 0:4.6.33-1.el9ap; Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 1789673739; Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 9 0:4.7.17-1.el9ap; Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.7 1789580684. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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