VulnerabilityAwaiting Analysis

CVE-2026-11837

A local privilege escalation vulnerability was found in the ansible.posix authorized_key module.

HIGH 7.3EPSS 0.16%

Does this matter?

High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.16%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.

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 3.1: 7.3 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS: 0.16% probability · 6th percentile
CISA KEV: Not listed
Weakness: CWE-59
Source: secalert@redhat.com

References

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.