Ansible: malicious role overwrites files outside the extraction path through symlink traversal

Impact

A crafted Ansible role, once a victim installs and runs it, can use a symlink to write outside the extraction directory to an absolute path of the author's choosing. Since roles are commonly fetched from Galaxy or an internal mirror and executed with elevated rights from the control node, this turns role consumption into a file-overwrite primitive on whatever account runs the role - typically the one that holds the credentials for the rest of the fleet. The record describes integrity impact on the host running the role, not code execution on managed GPU nodes, and it requires the operator to be induced to run the malicious role.

Who can reach it

An attacker who can get a role in front of an operator - a public or mirrored Galaxy entry, a pull request, a tarball - and the operator installing and running it. No pre-existing access to the control node.

What to do

Apply the vendor errata for your stream (RHSA-2023:5701, RHSA-2023:5758, or the Debian LTS update) on control nodes and in execution environments, then rebuild the execution-environment images so jobs pick up the fixed package. Alongside the patch, restrict role sources to a vetted internal mirror; no managed-node maintenance window is needed.

References

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