CVE-2020-10691 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.2) Path Traversal vulnerability in ansible. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2020-10691 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Path Traversal in Ansible
Real-World Exposure
ansibleReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
An archive traversal flaw was found in all ansible-engine versions 2.9.x prior to 2.9.7, when running ansible-galaxy collection install. When extracting a collection .tar.gz file, the directory is created without sanitizing the filename. An attacker could take advantage to overwrite any file within the system.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | ansible | ≥ 2.9.0a1&&< 2.9.7 | 2.9.7 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for ansible. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update ansible to 2.9.7 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-10691 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2020-10691 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2020-10691. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
Ansible Engine 2.9.6 as well as previous 2.9.x versions are affected. Ansible versions less than or equal to 2.8 are not affected by this vulnerability as this functionality was introduced on 2.9. Ansible Tower 3.6.3 as well as previous 3.6.x versions are affected as they use ansible-galaxy collections.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-10691 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2020-10691 across PyPI dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.