CVE-2026-11837
HIGH 7.3A 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.
Severe if exploited (CVSS 7.3), but no known exploitation and low modeled probability. Patch on a normal cadence.
Exploitation likelihood
0.1%chance of exploitation in 30 days · 3rd percentile
Impact if exploited
7.3CVSS 3.1 · HIGH
- ConfidentialityHigh
- IntegrityHigh
- AvailabilityHigh
What an attacker needs
- ⚠Access: Requires local access to the host
- ⚠Privileges: Requires a low-privilege account
- ⚠User interaction: A user must take an action (click / open a file)
- ✓Complexity: No special conditions — reliably repeatable
✓ lowers the bar for an attacker · ⚠ raises it
Affected
Vendors Red Hat
Products Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Red Hat Openstack Platform 17.1 Red Hat Openstack Platform 18.0
Weakness (CWE)
- CWE-59
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H