CVE-2025-1801 is a high-severity race condition vulnerability affecting version 2.5.0 of the Ansible aap-gateway, specifically within its gRPC service handling concurrent requests. The flaw arises from improper synchronization when multiple requests access shared resources concurrently, leading to a race condition. This concurrency issue can be exploited by a less privileged user to obtain the JSON Web Token (JWT) of a more privileged user. JWTs are commonly used for authentication and authorization, and possession of a higher-privilege JWT effectively allows an attacker to impersonate that user, potentially gaining unauthorized access to sensitive operations or data. The vulnerability does not require user interaction and can be exploited remotely over the network (AV:N), with low attack complexity (AC:L) and only requires privileges of a less privileged user (PR:L). The impact on confidentiality and integrity is high, as confidential data and user sessions can be compromised, though availability is not affected. The vulnerability is currently not known to be exploited in the wild, but given the nature of the flaw and the criticality of JWT tokens in access control, exploitation could lead to significant security breaches. The issue is particularly concerning in environments where Ansible aap-gateway is used to manage infrastructure or automate critical workflows, as unauthorized access could lead to lateral movement or privilege escalation within an organization’s systems.

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-1801 could be substantial, especially for those relying on Ansible automation for IT infrastructure management, cloud orchestration, or DevOps pipelines. Unauthorized access to privileged JWT tokens could allow attackers to manipulate automation workflows, access confidential configuration data, or disrupt operational integrity. This could lead to data breaches involving personal data protected under GDPR, resulting in regulatory penalties and reputational damage. Additionally, compromised automation could affect critical services in sectors such as finance, healthcare, and government, where Ansible is commonly used. The breach of privileged sessions could also facilitate further attacks, including lateral movement and deployment of malicious payloads, amplifying the overall risk to organizational security and continuity.

To mitigate this vulnerability, organizations should promptly upgrade the Ansible aap-gateway to a patched version once available from the vendor, as no patch links are currently provided. In the interim, organizations should implement strict network segmentation and access controls to limit which users or systems can interact with the aap-gateway service. Monitoring and logging of gRPC service requests should be enhanced to detect unusual access patterns or privilege escalations. Applying the principle of least privilege to user accounts interacting with the gateway can reduce the risk of exploitation. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing JWT token validation and rotation policies to minimize the window of token misuse. If possible, temporarily disabling or restricting concurrent request handling on the gateway or applying rate limiting may reduce exposure. Finally, conducting thorough security assessments and penetration testing focused on concurrency and session management can help identify residual risks.