CVE-2020-1738

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.

Published: 2020-03-16 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-1738 is rated Low Risk (31.1/100): CVSS Low severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.21%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-1738

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-04-21 0.10% 0.21% +0.11%
2 2025-03-17 0.05% 0.10% +0.06%
3 2023-03-07 — 0.05% —

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-1738

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
3.9 3.1 LOW
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:L Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 0.8 2.7 [email protected]
3.9 3.1 LOW
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:L Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 0.8 2.7 [email protected]
2.6 2.0 LOW
AV:L/AC:H/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:H)
Exploitation requires uncommon or highly specific conditions.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 1.9 4.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-1738

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2020-1738

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-1738

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2020-1738 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (ansible), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): open 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-1738
gentoo normal CVE-2020-1738: 1 GLSA(s) (202006-11), 1 atom(s) (app-admin/ansible); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2020-1738
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-1738
suse medium CVE-2020-1738 severity moderate: SUSE including 119 source package names (ansible, ansible-10-10.6.0-1.1, …), 258 product×package rows across 16 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, HPE Helion OpenStack Cloud 8, … (16 product lines)): Fixed 246, Known Not Affected 12. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-1738/
ubuntu medium CVE-2020-1738 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (ansible), 17 status rows across 17 suites (bionic, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): ignored 9, needs-triage 8. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-1738

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-1738

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
redhat ansible <= 2.7.16 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat ansible >= 2.8.0, <= 2.8.8 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat ansible >= 2.9.0, <= 2.9.5 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat ansible_tower <= 3.3.4 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_tower:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat ansible_tower >= 3.3.5, <= 3.4.5 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_tower:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat ansible_tower >= 3.5.0, <= 3.5.5 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_tower:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat ansible_tower >= 3.6.0, <= 3.6.3 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_tower:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat cloudforms_management_engine 5.0 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:cloudforms_management_engine:5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat openstack 13 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:openstack:13:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-1738

cvelogic Threat Intelligence