CVE-2026-126644
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Symlink Following in Ansible.posix Authorized Key Module
Vulnerability report for CVE-2026-126644, including description, CVSS score, EPSS score, affected products, exploitability, helpful resources, and attack-flow context.
Publication date: 2026-11-12
Last updated on: 2026-11-12
Assigner: redhat-SADP
Description
Description
A link-following flaw was found in the authorized_key module of the ansible.posix collection, residual to the fix for CVE-2026-11837. That fix guards only the final path component (os.chown with follow_symlinks=False and O_NOFOLLOW in _safe_open_write()). When an unprivileged local user replaces their ~/.ssh directory with a symlink to a directory they do not own, and an operator subsequently runs the authorized_key task as root (a common provisioning pattern), the module resolves its path operations through the symlink: atomic_move() writes the temporary file in the symlink target and renames it to <target>/authorized_keys, creating or overwriting a file in the attacker-chosen directory, and os.chmod(sshdir, 0o700) follows the symlink and changes the target directory's permissions. The written file is chowned to the unprivileged user, so this is not a privilege escalation, but it allows an attacker to create or overwrite files (for example in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/, which APT reads regardless of file ownership) to cause integrity and availability impacts.
CVSS Scores
EPSS Scores
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Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
| Vendor | Product | Version / Range |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | * |
| Red Hat | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | * |
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
KEV
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-59 | The product attempts to access a file based on the filename, but it does not properly prevent that filename from identifying a link or shortcut that resolves to an unintended resource. |
