7.3

CVE-2026-11837: Ansible-collection-ansible-posix: ansible.posix authorized_key: local privilege escalation via symlink-following chown

Awaiting analysis
AliasesRHSA-2026:79112UBUNTU-CVE-2026-11837DEBIAN-CVE-2026-11837
Published 10-06-2026Last modified 02-11-2026

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2026-11837 is a high (CVSS 7.3) vulnerability in ansible. EPSS estimates a 0.16% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 5.5% of scored vulnerabilities.

Priority
Routine

Not severe (CVSS 7.3, local access); no exploitation reported by the 5 checked sources

Source freshness unavailable

How is this decided?
CVSS score
7.3/10
010
High · v3.1 (CVE.org)
EPSS score
0.16%
0%100%
Low · 0.00 pp in 30 days
KEVNot listedNot listed by any tracked catalog.
RansomwareNot flaggedNo ransomware use recorded.
Public exploits0No public exploits recorded

Timeline

  1. 10-06-2026
    PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
  2. 02-11-2026
    Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

A local privilege escalation vulnerability was found in the ansible.posix authorized_key module. The module's keyfile() function uses os.chown() instead of os.lchown() and opens files without O_NOFOLLOW when managing SSH authorized keys. An unprivileged local user can pre-stage symbolic links in their ~/.ssh directory to redirect file ownership changes to arbitrary system paths when an operator runs the authorized_key task as root, leading to local privilege escalation.

CVSS metrics

5 scores · 5 sources · 1 version

EPSS trend

Probability

0.16%

Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days

Percentile

6%

Versus all other CVEs

30-day change

No change 0.00 pp

From 0.16% on 04-10-2026

04-10-202603-11-2026

Known exploited

Compare KEV catalogs
CISA KEV

Not in the CISA KEV catalog.

ENISA CNW

Not in the ENISA CNW catalog.

CIRCL

Not in the CIRCL catalog.

Public exploits

0 found

No public exploits indexed.

Weaknesses

CWE · root cause

Affected systems

Version check

Known conditions: local access, low-privilege account, user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.

Redhat3 products
  • rhc-worker-playbook< 0:0.2.3-6.el10_0.2 | < 0:0.1.8-2.el8_6.1 | < 0:0.1.8-5.el8_8.1
  • rhc-worker-playbook-debuginfo< 0:0.2.3-6.el10_0.2
  • rhc-worker-playbook-debugsource< 0:0.2.3-6.el10_0.2
Ubuntu2 products
  • ansibleAll versions (No fix recorded)
  • ansible-coreAll versions (No fix recorded)
Debian1 product
  • ansibleAll versions (No fix recorded)

3 vendors · 6 products

References

15 links
Show all 15 references