CVE-2020-10685: Medium severity red hat ansible engine vulnerability

Published Mar 18, 2020
·
Updated

A flaw was found in Ansible Engine affecting Ansible Engine versions 2.7.x before 2.7.17 and 2.8.x before 2.8.11 and 2.9.x before 2.9.7 as well as Ansible Tower before and including versions 3.4.5 and 3.5.5 and 3.6.3 when using modules which decrypts vault files such as assemble, script, unarchive, wincopy, awss3 or copy modules. The temporary directory is created in /tmp leaves the s ts unencrypted. On Operating Systems which /tmp is not a tmpfs but part of the root partition, the directory is only cleared on boot and the decryp emains when the host is switched off. The system will be vulnerable when the system is not running. So decrypted data must be cleared as soon as possible and the data which normally is encrypted ble.

Other sources

A flaw was found on Ansible Engine when using modules which decrypts vault files such as assemble, script, unarchive, wincopy, awss3 or copy modules. The temporary directory is created in /tmp leaves the secrets unencrypted. On Operating Systems which /tmp is not a tmpfs but part of the root partition, the directory is only cleared on boot and the decrypted data remains when the host is switched off. The system will be vulnerable when the system is not running. So decrypted data must be cleared as soon as possible and the data which normally is encrypted is sensible.

When a module uses a file that was encrypted with vault, it doesn not remove the decrypted file in /tmp after its usage.

Red Hat

Affected Software

25 affected componentsFixes available
redhat/ansible<0:2.7.17-1.el7ae
0:2.7.17-1.el7ae
redhat/ansible<0:2.8.11-1.el7ae
0:2.8.11-1.el7ae
redhat/ansible<0:2.8.11-1.el8ae
0:2.8.11-1.el8ae
redhat/ansible<0:2.9.7-1.el7ae
0:2.9.7-1.el7ae
redhat/ansible<0:2.9.7-1.el8ae
0:2.9.7-1.el8ae
debian/ansible
2.7.7+dfsg-1+deb10u12.7.7+dfsg-1+deb10u22.10.7+merged+base+2.10.8+dfsg-17.3.0+dfsg-17.7.0+dfsg-3
redhat/ansible-engine<2.7.17
2.7.17
redhat/ansible-engine<2.8.11
2.8.11
redhat/ansible-engine<2.9.7
2.9.7
pip/ansible>=2.9.0a1<2.9.7
2.9.7
pip/ansible>=2.8.0a1<2.8.11
2.8.11
pip/ansible>=2.7.0a1<2.7.17
2.7.17
redhat Ansible Engine>=2.7.0<2.7.17
redhat Ansible Engine>=2.8.0<2.8.11
redhat Ansible Engine>=2.9.0<2.9.7
redhat Ansible Tower<=3.4.5
redhat Ansible Tower>=3.5.0<=3.5.5
redhat Ansible Tower>=3.6.0<=3.6.3
redhat Ceph Storage=2.0
redhat Ceph Storage=3.0
redhat Openstack=10
redhat Openstack=13
redhat Openstack=15
redhat Storage=3.0
Debian Debian Linux=10.0

Remediation

Information

Currently, there is no mitigation for this issue except by removing manually the temporary created file after every run.

Event History

Mar 18, 2020
CVE Published
12:00 AM
May 11, 2020
CVE Published
via MITRE·12:00 AM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·12:00 AM
DescriptionSeverityWeakness
Apr 7, 2021
Advisory Published
via GitHub·08:36 PM

Parent advisories

This vulnerability appears in the following advisories.

Frequently Asked Questions

1

What is CVE-2020-10685?

CVE-2020-10685 is a vulnerability found in Ansible Engine when using modules which decrypt vault files.

2

Which versions of Ansible Engine are affected by CVE-2020-10685?

Ansible Engine versions 2.7.x before 2.7.17, 2.8.x before 2.8.11, and 2.9.x before 2.9.7 are affected.

3

What is the severity of CVE-2020-10685?

CVE-2020-10685 has a severity rating of medium.

4

How can I fix CVE-2020-10685?

To fix CVE-2020-10685, update Ansible Engine to version 2.7.17, 2.8.11, or 2.9.7.

5

Where can I find more information about CVE-2020-10685?

You can find more information about CVE-2020-10685 on the Red Hat Bugzilla website.

Contact

SecAlerts Pty Ltd.
132 Wickham Terrace
Fortitude Valley,
QLD 4006, Australia
info@secalerts.co
By using SecAlerts services, you agree to our services end-user license agreement. This website is safeguarded by reCAPTCHA and governed by the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. All names, logos, and brands of products are owned by their respective owners, and any usage of these names, logos, and brands for identification purposes only does not imply endorsement. If you possess any content that requires removal, please get in touch with us.
© 2026 SecAlerts Pty Ltd.
ABN: 70 645 966 203, ACN: 645 966 203