Ansible Automation Platform Container PrivEsc via Group-writable /etc/passwd
CVE-2025-57847 Published on April 8, 2026

Ansible-automation-platform: privilege escalation via excessive group writable /etc/passwd permissions
A container privilege escalation flaw was found in certain Ansible Automation Platform images. This issue arises from the /etc/passwd file being created with group-writable permissions during the build process. In certain conditions, an attacker who can execute commands within an affected container, even as a non-root user, can leverage their membership in the root group to modify the /etc/passwd file. This vulnerability allows an attacker to add a new user with any arbitrary UID, including UID 0, gaining full root privileges within the container.

Vendor Advisory Vendor Advisory Vendor Advisory Vendor Advisory Vendor Advisory Vendor Advisory NVD

Vulnerability Analysis

CVE-2025-57847 can be exploited with local system access, and requires user privileges. This vulnerability is consided to have a high level of attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to be very high.

Attack Vector:
LOCAL
Attack Complexity:
HIGH
Privileges Required:
HIGH
User Interaction:
NONE
Scope:
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact:
HIGH
Integrity Impact:
HIGH
Availability Impact:
HIGH

Timeline

Reported to Red Hat.

Made public. 225 days later.

Weakness Type

Incorrect Default Permissions

During installation, installed file permissions are set to allow anyone to modify those files.


Products Associated with CVE-2025-57847

stack.watch emails you whenever new vulnerabilities are published in Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform or Red Hat Ansible Core. Just hit a watch button to start following.

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform
 
Red Hat Ansible Core
 

Affected Versions

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.16: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.16: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.18: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.18: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2:

Exploit Probability

EPSS
0.16%
Percentile
5.49%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.