CVE-2020-1733

Local account takeover via temporary-directory race

Published Mar 11, 2020 · Updated Aug 4, 2024

Race condition in Red Hat Ansible Engine 2.7.16 and earlier, 2.8.10 and earlier, and 2.9.6 and earlier allows local users to hijack become users. The POSIX shell plugin uses mkdir -p for the final /var/tmp module directory, accepts a directory pre-created by another user, and then reuses that attacker-owned path. Exploitation requires access to the managed Linux node, visibility into the playbook process through /proc, and an unprivileged become operation; success grants control of the become account and permits changes to files owned by the connecting SSH user.

CVSS severity5.0
Medium
EPSS probability0.40%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Race condition in Red Hat Ansible Engine 2.7.16 and earlier, 2.8.10 and earlier, and 2.9.6 and earlier allows local users to hijack become users. The POSIX shell plugin uses mkdir -p for the final /var/tmp module directory, accepts a directory pre-created by another user, and then reuses that attacker-owned path. Exploitation requires access to the managed Linux node, visibility into the playbook process through /proc, and an unprivileged become operation; success grants control of the become account and permits changes to files owned by the connecting SSH user.

The record

CVE
CVE-2020-1733
Published
Mar 11, 2020
Updated
Aug 4, 2024
Vendor
Red Hat
Product
Ansible
Classifications
CWE-377, T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Mar 11, 2020CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 4, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=2.7.17 and prior
  2. Affected versionversion=2.8.9 and prior
  3. Affected versionversion=2.9.6 and prior

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Red Hat · Ansibleversion=2.7.17 and prior; version=2.8.9 and prior; version=2.9.6 and prior

Published CVSS scores

1.0GitHubCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:P/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:L/SI:L/SA:L
5.0Red HatCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L
5.0NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-377Insecure Temporary File
T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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