Ansible Core Tarball Path Traversal via Symlink Chain Exploit
CVE-2026-89091 Published on October 8, 2026

Ansible-core: ansible-core: ansible-galaxy collection install symlink path escape allows arbitrary file write / code execution
A flaw was found in ansible-core. When installing a collection with `ansible-galaxy collection install`, the archive extractor validates member paths using lexical path normalisation (os.path.abspath) instead of resolving symbolic links (os.path.realpath), and it performs no containment check on symlink-typed directory members before creating them. A crafted collection tarball can chain symlink directory entries so that a subsequent file member is written outside the intended destination directory. This allows an attacker who can get a victim to install a malicious collection to overwrite arbitrary files with the privileges of the user running ansible-galaxy, leading to code execution on the control node. This is a bypass of the fix for CVE-2020-10691.

NVD

Vulnerability Analysis

CVE-2026-89091 can be exploited with network access, requires user interaction. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to be very high.

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

Timeline

Reported to Red Hat.

Made public. 15 days later.

Weakness Type

What is an insecure temporary file Vulnerability?

The software attempts to access a file based on the filename, but it does not properly prevent that filename from identifying a link or shortcut that resolves to an unintended resource.

CVE-2026-89091 has been classified to as an insecure temporary file vulnerability or weakness.


Products Associated with CVE-2026-89091

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Red Hat Migration Toolkit Applications
 
Red Hat Migration Toolkit Virtualization
 
Red Hat Service Mesh
 
Red Hat Acm
 
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform
 
Red Hat Ansible Core
 
Red Hat Certifications
 
Red Hat Discovery
 
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
 
Red Hat Openshift
 
Red Hat Openstack
 
Red Hat Satellite
 
Red Hat Rhui
 
Red Hat Ansible Portal
 

Affected Versions

Red Hat Migration Toolkit for Applications 8: Red Hat Migration Toolkit for Virtualization: Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 3: Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2: Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 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: 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: 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: 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 Ansible Core 2: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform Ansible Core 2: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform Ansible Core 2: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform Ansible Core 2: Red Hat Certification Program for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9: Red Hat Discovery 2: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9: Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4: Red Hat OpenStack Platform 17.1: Red Hat OpenStack Platform 18.0: Red Hat Satellite 6: Red Hat Update Infrastructure 5: Red Hat Update Infrastructure 5: Red Hat Update Infrastructure 5: Red Hat Update Infrastructure 5: Red Hat Self-service automation portal 2: