MediumFix available
ansible, ansible-base — security advisory
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.
- Products
- ansible, ansible-base
- Affected versions
- Not specified
- Fixed versions
- 2.7.17-r0, 2.8.11-r0, 2.9.7-r0
- CVEs
- CVE-2020-1740
- Confirmed fixed CVEs
- Not specified
- Updated in this feed
- 1 Nov 2026, 12:05 UTC · Revision 1
Source evidence
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.
osv:ALPINE-CVE-2020-1740
ansible
Fixed versions: 2.8.11-r0
ansible
Fixed versions: 2.9.7-r0
ansible
Fixed versions: 2.9.7-r0
ansible
Fixed versions: 2.7.17-r0
ansible-base
Fixed versions: 2.9.7-r0
ansible-base
Fixed versions: 2.9.7-r0
Complete source record
{
"id": "2ef9ab4a191000f55b1c899494883c2f4781ab6ec0f48a8a4283779ef55bfc21",
"url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/ALPINE-CVE-2020-1740",
"method": "structured",
"payload": {
"kind": "advisory",
"title": "ALPINE-CVE-2020-1740",
"summary": "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.",
"evidence": "osv:ALPINE-CVE-2020-1740",
"products": [
{
"name": {
"value": "ansible",
"evidence": "/affected/0/package/name"
},
"prerequisites": [],
"fixed_versions": [
{
"value": "2.8.11-r0",
"evidence": "/affected/0/ranges"
}
],
"affected_versions": []
},
{
"name": {
"value": "ansible",
"evidence": "/affected/1/package/name"
},
"prerequisites": [],
"fixed_versions": [
{
"value": "2.9.7-r0",
"evidence": "/affected/1/ranges"
}
],
"affected_versions": []
},
{
"name": {
"value": "ansible",
"evidence": "/affected/2/package/name"
},
"prerequisites": [],
"fixed_versions": [
{
"value": "2.9.7-r0",
"evidence": "/affected/2/ranges"
}
],
"affected_versions": []
},
{
"name": {
"value": "ansible",
"evidence": "/affected/3/package/name"
},
"prerequisites": [],
"fixed_versions": [
{
"value": "2.7.17-r0",
"evidence": "/affected/3/ranges"
}
],
"affected_versions": []
},
{
"name": {
"value": "ansible-base",
"evidence": "/affected/4/package/name"
},
"prerequisites": [],
"fixed_versions": [
{
"value": "2.9.7-r0",
"evidence": "/affected/4/ranges"
}
],
"affected_versions": []
},
{
"name": {
"value": "ansible-base",
"evidence": "/affected/5/package/name"
},
"prerequisites": [],
"fixed_versions": [
{
"value": "2.9.7-r0",
"evidence": "/affected/5/ranges"
}
],
"affected_versions": []
}
],
"severity": "medium",
"structured": {
"id": "ALPINE-CVE-2020-1740",
"aliases": [
"ALPINE-CVE-2020-1740"
],
"metrics": [
{
"type": "CVSS_V3",
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N"
}
],
"affected": [
{
"ranges": [
{
"type": "ECOSYSTEM",
"events": [
{
"introduced": "2.8.0"
},
{
"fixed": "2.8.11-r0"
}
]
}
],
"package": {
"name": "ansible",
"purl": "pkg:apk/alpine/ansible?arch=source",
"ecosystem": "Alpine:v3.10"
},
"database_specific": {
"source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/alpine/ALPINE-CVE-2020-1740.json"
},
"ecosystem_specific": {}
},
{
"ranges": [
{
"type": "ECOSYSTEM",
"events": [
{
"introduced": "2.8.0"
},
{
"fixed": "2.9.7-r0"
}
]
}
],
"package": {
"name": "ansible",
"purl": "pkg:apk/alpine/ansible?arch=source",
"ecosystem": "Alpine:v3.11"
},
"database_specific": {
"source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/alpine/ALPINE-CVE-2020-1740.json"
},
"ecosystem_specific": {}
},
{
"ranges": [
{
"type": "ECOSYSTEM",
"events": [
{
"introduced": "2.8.0"
},
{
"fixed": "2.9.7-r0"
}
]
}
],
"package": {
"name": "ansible",
"purl": "pkg:apk/alpine/ansible?arch=source",
"ecosystem": "Alpine:v3.12"
},
"database_specific": {
"source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/alpine/ALPINE-CVE-2020-1740.json"
},
"ecosystem_specific": {}
},
{
"ranges": [
{
"type": "ECOSYSTEM",
"events": [
{
"introduced": "2.8.0"
},
{
"fixed": "2.7.17-r0"
}
]
}
],
"package": {
"name": "ansible",
"purl": "pkg:apk/alpine/ansible?arch=source",
"ecosystem": "Alpine:v3.9"
},
"database_specific": {
"source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/alpine/ALPINE-CVE-2020-1740.json"
},
"ecosystem_specific": {}
},
{
"ranges": [
{
"type": "ECOSYSTEM",
"events": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"fixed": "2.9.7-r0"
}
]
}
],
"package": {
"name": "ansible-base",
"purl": "pkg:apk/alpine/ansible-base?arch=source",
"ecosystem": "Alpine:v3.13"
},
"database_specific": {
"source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/alpine/ALPINE-CVE-2020-1740.json"
},
"ecosystem_specific": {}
},
{
"ranges": [
{
"type": "ECOSYSTEM",
"events": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"fixed": "2.9.7-r0"
}
]
}
],
"package": {
"name": "ansible-base",
"purl": "pkg:apk/alpine/ansible-base?arch=source",
"ecosystem": "Alpine:v3.14"
},
"database_specific": {
"source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/alpine/ALPINE-CVE-2020-1740.json"
},
"ecosystem_specific": {}
}
],
"modified": "2026-10-26T11:17:55.144541930Z",
"provider": "osv",
"upstream": [
"CVE-2020-1740"
],
"references": [
"https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2020-1740"
]
},
"related_cves": [
{
"value": "CVE-2020-1740",
"evidence": "/upstream"
}
],
"security_relevant": true,
"severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
},
"source_id": "core-osv",
"document_id": 450486,
"published_at": "2020-03-16T16:15:14.217+00:00"
}