CVE-2026-16493: Ansible-core: argument injection in ansible-galaxy collection install via git clone (incomplete fix for cve-2026-11332)

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2026-16493 is a high (CVSS 7.8) vulnerability in ansible. EPSS estimates a 0.27% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 18.9% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 21-07-2026
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 03-11-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

A flaw was found in ansible-core. The _extract_collection_from_git() function in ansible-core's concrete_artifact_manager.py constructs git clone commands without a '--' (end-of-options) separator before user-supplied URLs when installing collections from git sources. An attacker who provides a crafted collection source URI containing git argument injection payloads can achieve arbitrary command execution when a user runs 'ansible-galaxy collection install' with the malicious source. This is an incomplete fix for CVE-2026-11332, which hardened the role install path but missed the equivalent collection install code path.

• CWE-88Improper Neutralization of Argument Delimiters in a CommandThe product constructs a string for a command to be executed by a separate component in another control sphere, but it does not properly delimit the intended arguments, options, or switches within that command string.