7.3highHigh
CVE-2026-11837
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.
What the metrics mean
- It is requires local access to the machine.
- For an attacker who can reach it, no special conditions are needed to exploit it.
- To exploit it, an ordinary user account is needed.
- Beyond that, someone has to be persuaded to take an action first.
Scoring
- CVSS
- 7.3 (v3.1)
- Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H- Weakness
- CWE-59
- Assigned by
- secalert@redhat.com
Dates
- Published
- 2026-06-10
- Last modified
- 2026-08-25
- Sources
- NVD