CVE-2020-10729 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.5) Insufficient Random Values vulnerability in ansible. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for ansible — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Insufficiently random values in Ansible
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2020-10729 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 385,738 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
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
A flaw was found in the use of insufficiently random values in Ansible. Two random password lookups of the same length generate the equal value as the template caching action for the same file since no re-evaluation happens. The highest threat from this vulnerability would be that all passwords are exposed at once for the file. This flaw affects Ansible Engine versions before 2.9.6.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | ansible | all versions | 2.9.6pip install --upgrade 'ansible==2.9.6' |
Affected Products
debian linuxdebianansible engineredhatResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for ansible, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update ansible to 2.9.6 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-10729 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.
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.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Ansible Engine 2.9 for RHEL 7 | ansible-0:2.9.6-1.el7ae | RHBA-2020:0784 |
| Red Hat Ansible Tower 3.6 for RHEL 7 | ansible-tower-36/ansible-tower:3.6.4-1 | RHBA-2020:1540 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-10729 in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.