ansible-runner: streamed archive extraction follows symlinks and writes outside the target directory

Impact

The worker side of ansible-runner's transmit/worker protocol unpacks a streamed zip archive without validating symlink targets or member paths, and then applies chmod() and utime() to those unsanitized paths. A crafted archive can create files, plant symlinks, or change permissions anywhere the worker process can write - which Red Hat's assessment says can be leveraged toward code execution. On a GPU fleet this matters because ansible-runner workers are the thing that configures nodes: a worker that consumes attacker-influenced input can be turned into a foothold on the automation path that drives driver installs, firmware pushes and node provisioning across the whole fleet. Integrity impact, not confidentiality, per the record.

Who can reach it

An actor who can influence the archive content a worker consumes over the transmit/worker protocol. The record's vector is network with low privileges required and high attack complexity, so it needs an existing authenticated position that feeds jobs into a worker rather than anonymous reachability.

What to do

Track the upstream fix in ansible-runner PR #1550 and the Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 errata; the record names no fixed version, so apply the vendor update when it ships. In the meantime, treat worker nodes as trusting their job source: do not let untrusted parties submit transmit payloads, and run workers as unprivileged users in constrained containers so an escaped write lands somewhere harmless. The fix is a package update to the automation controller and its workers, not a node-level change.

References

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