CVE-2024-9902VulnerabilityPublished 6 Nov 2024Updated 6 Nov 2025

CVE-2024-9902: ansible-core · Incorrect Authorization

Affects ansible-coreSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.3 Medium.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.3Medium

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

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 17% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: High
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: Required
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
Availability: Low

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

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
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: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
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: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 6 Nov 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 2026-10-25.

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
PyPIansible-core`pkg:pypi/ansible-core`Other threats	Affected =0 =2.15.0 =2.16.0 =2.17.0 =2.18.0	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-2024-9902, organizations should immediately upgrade ansible-core to a patched version beyond 2.18.0b1 once available. Until patches are applied, restrict directory traversal and write permissions for unprivileged users, especially in home directories and directories containing sensitive files. Implement strict access controls and audit permissions on directories that could be targeted. Limit the execution of ansible-core user module commands to trusted administrators and avoid running them against unprivileged user directories without thorough validation. Employ monitoring and alerting for unexpected file modifications in critical system paths. Additionally, consider isolating automation environments and using containerization or sandboxing to reduce the impact of potential exploitation. Regularly review and harden file system permissions and user roles to minimize the attack surface. Finally, educate privileged users about the risks of running ansible-core commands on untrusted user directories.

Description

A flaw was found in Ansible. The ansible-core `user` module can allow an unprivileged user to silently create or replace the contents of any file on any system path and take ownership of it when a privileged user executes the `user` module against the unprivileged user's home directory. If the unprivileged user has traversal permissions on the directory containing the exploited target file, they retain full control over the contents of the file as its owner.

Impact

The impact of CVE-2024-9902 is primarily a local privilege escalation and unauthorized file manipulation risk. An attacker with unprivileged access can leverage this vulnerability to overwrite or create arbitrary files on the system, potentially injecting malicious code, altering configuration files, or gaining persistent access by modifying critical system files. This compromises confidentiality and integrity of the system and data. In enterprise environments where ansible-core is widely used for automated configuration management, this vulnerability could be exploited to undermine system security, disrupt operations, or facilitate further attacks. Although exploitation requires local access and user interaction, the ability to silently replace files and take ownership can lead to significant damage if combined with other attack vectors. The vulnerability could affect cloud environments, CI/CD pipelines, and on-premises servers where ansible-core is deployed, increasing the risk of widespread compromise if not mitigated.

References

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