CVE-2026-16493

Public on

Last Modified: UTC

Important Important severity What does this mean?
7.8 CVSS v3 Score Breakdown

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.

Statement

Red Hat has assessed this vulnerability as Important because it allows arbitrary command execution when a user installs a collection from a crafted git source. The vulnerability exists because the fix for CVE-2026-11332 (RHSA-2026:42078, RHSA-2026:42079, RHSA-2026:42080, published 2026-07-20) only addressed the role install path in lib/ansible/utils/galaxy.py but did not apply the same '--' end-of-options separator to the collection install path in lib/ansible/galaxy/collection/concrete_artifact_manager.py. All versions of ansible-core that support collection installation from git sources are affected. Users who install collections exclusively from Ansible Galaxy or Automation Hub (HTTPS sources) are not exposed to this specific flaw.

Mitigation

The following practices would help for avoiding exposure and mitigate this flaw:

1. Do not install Ansible collections from untrusted or unverified git sources. Only install collections from trusted sources such as Ansible Galaxy (This content is not included.https://galaxy.ansible.com), Red Hat Automation Hub (This content is not included.https://console.redhat.com/ansible/automation-hub), or verified internal repositories using HTTPS URLs.

2. Carefully inspect any requirements.yml files before running 'ansible-galaxy collection install -r requirements.yml'. Verify that all collection sources use legitimate HTTPS URLs and do not contain git+ prefixed URIs with suspicious characters (especially values starting with '-').

3. Ensure your system's git version is 2.12 or later, which disables the ext:: transport by default. While this does not fully prevent exploitation (the -ccore.sshCommand technique bypasses transport restrictions), it eliminates one of the exploitation vectors.

4. Restrict the GIT_ALLOW_PROTOCOL environment variable to only necessary protocols (e.g. https, ssh) and never include 'ext' unless absolutely required.

Additional information

External References

Affected Packages and Issued Red Hat Security Errata

Unless explicitly stated as not affected, all previous versions of packages in any minor update stream of a product listed here should be assumed vulnerable, although may not have been subject to full analysis.

Products / Services Components State Errata
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 ansible-core Affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 ansible-core Affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 ansible-core Affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 ansible-core Affected
Red Hat Satellite 6.17 for RHEL 9 ansible-core Fixed RHSA-2026:63387
Red Hat Satellite 6.18 for RHEL 9 ansible-core Fixed RHSA-2026:63386
Red Hat Satellite 6.18 for RHEL 9 pulpcore-obsolete-packages Fixed RHSA-2026:63386
Red Hat Satellite 6.18 for RHEL 9 python3.12-pulpcore Fixed RHSA-2026:63386
Red Hat Satellite 6.19 for RHEL 9 ansible-core Fixed This content is not included.RHSA-2026:63385

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authorities (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications ).

CVSS v3 Score Breakdown

Red Hat NVD cve.org
CVSS v3 Base Score 7.8 N/A 7.8
Attack Vector Local N/A Local
Attack Complexity Low N/A Low
Privileges Required None N/A None
User Interaction Required N/A Required
Scope Unchanged N/A Unchanged
Confidentiality Impact High N/A High
Integrity Impact High N/A High
Availability Impact High N/A High

CVSS v3 Vector

Red Hat CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

cve.org CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Acknowledgements

Red Hat would like to thank Ta Duc Thien (NTCS) for reporting this issue.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Red Hat's CVSS v3 score or Impact different from other vendors?

 For open source software shipped by multiple vendors, the CVSS base scores may vary for each vendor's version depending on the version they ship, how they ship it, the platform, and even how the software is compiled. This makes scoring of vulnerabilities difficult for third-party vulnerability databases such as NVD that only provide a single CVSS base score for each vulnerability. Red Hat scores reflect how a vulnerability affects our products specifically.

For more information, see https://access.redhat.com/solutions/762393.

My product is listed as "Under investigation" or "Affected", when will Red Hat release a fix for this vulnerability?
  • "Under investigation" doesn't necessarily mean that the product is affected by this vulnerability. It only means that our Analysis Team is still working on determining whether the product is affected and how it is affected.
  • "Affected" means that our Analysis Team has determined that this product is affected by this vulnerability and might release a fix to address this in the near future.

What can I do if my product is listed as "Will not fix"?

 A "will not fix" status means that a fix for an affected product version is not planned or not possible due to complexity, which may create additional risk.

Available options depend mostly on the Impact of the vulnerability and the current Life Cycle phase of your product. Overall, you have the following options:
  • Upgrade to a supported product version that includes a fix for this vulnerability (recommended).
  • Apply a mitigation (if one exists).
  • Open a This content is not included.support case to request a prioritization of releasing a fix for this vulnerability.

What can I do if my product is listed as "Fix deferred"?

 A deferred status means that a fix for an affected product version is not guaranteed due to higher-priority development work.

Available options depend mostly on the Impact of the vulnerability and the current Life Cycle phase of your product. Overall, you have the following options:
  • Apply a mitigation (if one exists).
  • Open a This content is not included.support case to request a prioritization of releasing a fix for this vulnerability.
  • Red Hat Engineering focuses on addressing high-priority issues based on their complexity or limited lifecycle support. Therefore, lower-priority issues will not receive immediate fixes.

What is a mitigation?

 A mitigation is an action that can be taken to reduce the impact of a security vulnerability, without deploying any fixes.

I have a Red Hat product but it is not in the above list, is it affected?

 The listed products were found to include one or more of the components that this vulnerability affects. These products underwent a thorough evaluation to determine their affectedness by this vulnerability. Note that layered products (such as container-based offerings) that consume affected components from any of the products listed in this table may be affected and are not represented.

Why is my security scanner reporting my product as vulnerable to this vulnerability even though my product version is fixed or not affected?

 In order to maintain code stability and compatibility, Red Hat usually does not rebase packages to entirely new versions. Instead, we backport fixes and new features to an older version of the package we distribute. This can result in some security scanners that only consider the package version to report the package as vulnerable. To avoid this, we suggest that you use an approved vulnerability scanner from our This content is not included.Red Hat Vulnerability Scanner Certification program.

My product is listed as "Out of Support Scope". What does this mean?

 When a product is listed as "Out of Support Scope", it means a vulnerability with the impact level assigned to this CVE is no longer covered by its current support lifecycle phase. The product has been identified to contain the impacted component, but analysis to determine whether it is affected or not by this vulnerability was not performed. The product should be assumed to be affected. Customers are advised to apply any mitigation options documented on this page, consider removing or disabling the impacted component, or upgrade to a supported version of the product that has an update available.