CVE-2026-89091: Ansible-core: ansible-core: ansible-galaxy collection install symlink path escape allows arbitrary file write / code execution

Severity: high (CVSS 8.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.5% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-10-08 · updated 2026-10-09
Weakness: CWE-59

Description

A flaw was found in ansible-core. When installing a collection with `ansible-galaxy collection install`, the archive extractor validates member paths using lexical path normalisation (os.path.abspath) instead of resolving symbolic links (os.path.realpath), and it performs no containment check on symlink-typed directory members before creating them. A crafted collection tarball can chain symlink directory entries so that a subsequent file member is written outside the intended destination directory. This allows an attacker who can get a victim to install a malicious collection to overwrite arbitrary files with the privileges of the user running ansible-galaxy, leading to code execution on the control node. This is a bypass of the fix for CVE-2020-10691.

Affected products

Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2: all versions
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.18: all versions
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2: all versions
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform Ansible Core 2: all versions
Red Hat Discovery 2: all versions
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10: all versions
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8: all versions
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9: all versions
Red Hat OpenStack Platform 17.1: all versions
Red Hat Update Infrastructure 5: all versions
Red Hat Satellite 6: all versions
Red Hat Self-service automation portal 2: all versions

References

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