VulnerabilityPublished 12 Sep 2024Updated 20 Nov 2025

CVE-2024-6840: ansible-automation-controller · Improper Authorization

Affects ansible-automation-controllerSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.6 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 08:30 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.6Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 36% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: High
Privileges Required: High
User Interaction: None
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: Low
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: High: A successful attack depends on conditions beyond the attacker's control. That is, a successful attack cannot be accomplished at will, but requires the attacker to invest in some measurable amount of effort in preparation or execution against the vulnerable component before a successful attack can be expected. For example, a successful attack may require an attacker to: gather knowledge about the environment in which the vulnerable target/component exists; prepare the target environment to improve exploit reliability; or inject themselves into the logical network path between the target and the resource requested by the victim in order to read and/or modify network communications (e.g., a man in the middle attack).
Privileges Required: High: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide significant (e.g., administrative) control over the vulnerable component that could affect component-wide settings and files.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Changed: An exploited vulnerability can affect resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority of the vulnerable component. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are different and managed by different security authorities.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 12 Sep 2024
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Red Hatredhat/ansible-automation-controller`pkg:rpm/redhat/ansible-automation-controller`Other threats	Affected =4.5.10-1	Fixed in–

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2024-6840, organizations should first upgrade Ansible Automation Controller to a version where this vulnerability is patched once available. Until a patch is released, restrict the use of automountServiceAccountToken: true in Kubernetes service account configurations, especially for service accounts used by Ansible Automation Controller. Limit permissions granted to service accounts to the minimum necessary (principle of least privilege) to reduce the impact of potential escalation. Implement network segmentation and strict API server access controls to prevent unauthorized HTTP requests to the Kubernetes API server. Monitor Kubernetes audit logs for suspicious API requests involving service account tokens. Employ runtime security tools to detect anomalous behavior in automation workflows. Regularly review and rotate service account tokens and credentials. Finally, educate DevOps and security teams about the risks of improper authorization in automation tools and enforce secure configuration management practices.

Description

An improper authorization flaw exists in the Ansible Automation Controller. This flaw allows an attacker using the k8S API server to send an HTTP request with a service account token mounted via `automountServiceAccountToken: true`, resulting in privilege escalation to a service account.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2024-6840 is unauthorized privilege escalation within Kubernetes environments using Ansible Automation Controller. Attackers who exploit this flaw can gain elevated access to service accounts, potentially exposing sensitive configuration data, secrets, and automation workflows. This can lead to confidentiality breaches and facilitate further attacks such as lateral movement or deployment of malicious workloads. The integrity impact is limited but still present, as attackers might manipulate automation tasks or configurations. Availability is not directly affected by this vulnerability. Organizations relying on Ansible Automation Controller for critical automation in Kubernetes clusters face increased risk of compromise, especially if service account tokens are widely used and mounted with automountServiceAccountToken enabled. The vulnerability could undermine trust in automation pipelines and cloud-native security postures, potentially causing operational disruptions and data loss if exploited.

References

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