GHSA-f85h-23mf-2fwh is a low-severity (CVSS 3.9) CWE-88 vulnerability in ansible. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-f85h-23mf-2fwh is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Argument Injection in Ansible
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-f85h-23mf-2fwh plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 0 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
ansible🐍ansible🐍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 Ansible Engine when the module package or service is used and the parameter 'use' is not specified. If a previous task is executed with a malicious user, the module sent can be selected by the attacker using the ansible facts file. All versions in 2.7.x, 2.8.x and 2.9.x branches are believed to be vulnerable.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | ansible | all versions | No fix |
| 🐍PyPI | ansible | ≥ 2.8.0a1 | No fix |
| 🐍PyPI | ansible | ≥ 2.9.0a1 | No fix |
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.
Remediation status
No patched version of ansible has shipped for GHSA-f85h-23mf-2fwh yet. Where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range, and apply any maintainer-recommended mitigation.
Mitigate without a patch
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 GHSA-f85h-23mf-2fwh 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 GHSA-f85h-23mf-2fwh. 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 2.7.16, 2.8.10, and 2.9.6 as well as previous versions are affected. Ansible Tower 3.4.5, 3.5.5 and 3.6.3 as well as previous versions are affected. In Red Hat OpenStack Platform, because the flaw has a lower impact, ansible is not directly customer exposed, and the fix would require a substantial…
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-f85h-23mf-2fwh in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-f85h-23mf-2fwh across PyPI dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.