Description
A local privilege escalation vulnerability was found in the ansible.posix authorized_key module. The module's keyfile() function uses os.chown() instead of os.lchown() and opens files without O_NOFOLLOW when managing SSH authorized keys. An unprivileged local user can pre-stage symbolic links in their ~/.ssh directory to redirect file ownership changes to arbitrary system paths when an operator runs the authorized_key task as root, leading to local privilege escalation.
Published: 2026-06-10
Score: 7.3 High
EPSS: n/a
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
AI Analysis

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Remediation

Vendor Workaround

The following practices would help for avoiding exposure and mitigate this flaw: 1) Do not run the ansible.posix authorized_key module with elevated privileges against untrusted user accounts. 2) Validate that target user home directories do not contain unexpected symbolic links before running playbooks.

Tracking

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Advisories

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History

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 05:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description A local privilege escalation vulnerability was found in the ansible.posix authorized_key module. The module's keyfile() function uses os.chown() instead of os.lchown() and opens files without O_NOFOLLOW when managing SSH authorized keys. An unprivileged local user can pre-stage symbolic links in their ~/.ssh directory to redirect file ownership changes to arbitrary system paths when an operator runs the authorized_key task as root, leading to local privilege escalation.
Title Ansible-collection-ansible-posix: ansible.posix authorized_key: local privilege escalation via symlink-following chown
First Time appeared Redhat
Redhat enterprise Linux
Redhat openstack
Weaknesses CWE-59
CPEs cpe:/a:redhat:openstack:17.1
cpe:/a:redhat:openstack:18.0
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9
Vendors & Products Redhat
Redhat enterprise Linux
Redhat openstack
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.3, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'}


Subscriptions

Redhat Enterprise Linux Openstack
cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: redhat

Published:

Updated: 2026-06-10T05:03:05.734Z

Reserved: 2026-06-10T04:10:05.146Z

Link: CVE-2026-11837

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-06-10T05:16:38.510

Modified: 2026-06-10T05:16:38.510

Link: CVE-2026-11837

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.

Weaknesses