NIST deprecates RSA-2048 from 2030. Find every one of them before attackers do.
🐍
🐍 PyPI
Not in CISA KEV
MEDIUM severity

CVE-2021-3701 — ansible-runner

MEDIUMFix: ansible/ansible-runner#742

CVE-2021-3701 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.6) Incorrect Default Permissions vulnerability in ansible-runner. A fix is available for ansible-runner — see the affected versions and patch details below.

ansible-runner has default temporary files written to world R/W locations

Also known asGHSA-wwch-cmqr-hhrmPYSEC-2022-43067
Published
Updated
Affected
1 pkg
Patched
1 / 1
Exploits
None indexed
Exploitation data as of Nov 4, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗
0.3%probability of exploitation in next 30 days
Lower Risk0.00%
Lower risk than most CVEs21th percentile — riskier than 21% of all scored CVEsHighest risk
0.00%0.26%0.53%0.79%0.1%0.3%May 26Sep 26Nov 26

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

Where this sits among everything scored

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected
🐍ansible-runner

Real-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 ansible-runner where the default temporary files configuration in ansible-2.0.0 are written to world R/W locations. This flaw allows an attacker to pre-create the directory, resulting in reading private information or forcing ansible-runner to write files as the legitimate user in a place they did not expect. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to confidentiality and integrity.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed
EcosystemPackageVulnerable rangeFix
🐍PyPIansible-runner≥ 2.0.0&&< 2.1.02.1.0pip install --upgrade 'ansible-runner==2.1.0'

Affected Products

1 product · 1 configurations
Application
ansible runnerredhat
1 version
2.0.0

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

  1. Detect

    Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for ansible-runner, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

  2. Fix

    Update ansible-runner to 2.1.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-3701 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

  3. Workarounds

    Close the privilege gap rather than the entry point: audit which accounts, roles and service identities can reach the affected operation, drop the component to the least privilege it actually needs, and review file and directory permissions created by earlier installs — a default left in place is what makes this reachable.

Frequently Asked Questions

A flaw was found in ansible-runner where the default temporary files configuration in ansible-2.0.0 are written to world R/W locations. This flaw allows an attacker to pre-create the directory, resulting in reading private information or forcing ansible-runner to write files as the legitimate user in a place they did not expect. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to confidentiality and integrity.
O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2021-3701 in your dependencies?

Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works
CVE-2021-3701: ansible-runner — Fixed in 2.1.0