GHSA-gfr2-qpxh-qj9m is a medium-severity (CVSS 4.6) Path Traversal 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.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-gfr2-qpxh-qj9m 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
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 the Ansible Engine when the fetch module is used. An attacker could intercept the module, inject a new path, and then choose a new destination path on the controller node. 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 | ≥ 2.7.0a1&&< 2.7.18 | 2.7.18pip install --upgrade 'ansible==2.7.18' |
| 🐍PyPI | ansible | ≥ 2.8.0a1&&< 2.8.12 | 2.8.12pip install --upgrade 'ansible==2.8.12' |
| 🐍PyPI | ansible | ≥ 2.9.0a1&&< 2.9.8 | 2.9.8pip install --upgrade 'ansible==2.9.8' |
Affected Products
debian linuxdebianfedorafedoraprojectansibleredhatansible towerredhatcloudforms management engineredhatopenstackredhatResearch 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 2.7.18 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-gfr2-qpxh-qj9m is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Resolve every user-supplied path to its canonical form and reject anything that escapes the intended directory, and run the component under an account that has no read or write access outside the directory it legitimately serves.
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…
Currently, there is no mitigation for this issue except avoid using the affected fetch module when possible.Source: Red Hat security advisory for GHSA-gfr2-qpxh-qj9m (CC BY 4.0)
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Ansible Engine 2.7 for RHEL 7 | ansible-0:2.7.17-1.el7ae | RHSA-2020:1544 |
| Red Hat Ansible Engine 2.8 for RHEL 7 | ansible-0:2.8.11-1.el7ae | RHSA-2020:1543 |
| Red Hat Ansible Engine 2.9 for RHEL 7 | ansible-0:2.9.7-1.el7ae | RHSA-2020:1541 |
| Red Hat Ansible Engine 2 for RHEL 7 | ansible-0:2.9.7-1.el7ae | RHSA-2020:1542 |
| Red Hat Ansible Tower 3.4 for RHEL 7 | ansible-tower-34/ansible-tower-memcached:1.4.15-28 | RHBA-2020:0547 |
| Red Hat Ansible Tower 3.5 for RHEL 7 | ansible-tower-35/ansible-tower:3.5.6-1 | RHBA-2020:1539 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-gfr2-qpxh-qj9m in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.