The vulnerability resides in the HashiCorp Vault credential plugin of the Ansible Automation Platform controller. When a kubernetes_role authentication Vault credential is tested, the controller reads the pod’s service account token and inappropriately sends it to an attacker‑controlled URL. This Server Side Request Forgery flaw (CWE‑918) allows an authenticated user with credential‑creation rights to exfiltrate the token. Exfiltrated tokens grant full CRUD permissions on the control‑plane namespaces, including reading pod secrets such as database credentials and the Django SECRET_KEY. Therefore, the flaw can lead to remote code execution or complete compromise of the platform. The impact is direct and critical because the attacker obtains privileged access to the Kubernetes API, enabling arbitrary changes to the automation environment.

This issue affects Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform version 2, specifically the automation‑controller component’s hashivault credential plugin. All installations of AAP 2 that expose the controller pod in a Kubernetes cluster are potentially vulnerable, regardless of the specific patch level.

The CVSS score of 9.6 marks the flaw as critical. EPSS is not provided, but the absence of a published exploitation index does not lessen the risk; the vulnerability is easy to exploit for anyone with credential‑creation privileges inside the platform. The flaw is not yet listed in CISA KEV, yet the attack path requires no external resources beyond an attacker‑controlled URL, so the potential for widespread exploitation remains high. The most likely attack vector is an internal or compromised account with the ability to create and test credentials, which is a legitimate privilege in many operational contexts.