# CVE-2020-1740: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor and Insecure Temporary File in Ansible

> Local attackers can read sensitive secrets from temporary files during Ansible Vault editing due to insecure file handling.

- **Severity:** Low 3.9 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 16 Mar 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2020-1740, DEBIAN-CVE-2020-1740, GHSA-vcg8-98q8-g7mj, PYSEC-2020-12, UBUNTU-CVE-2020-1740

## What is CVE-2020-1740?

CVE-2020-1740 is a low-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 16 Mar 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official 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.

Weakness: CWE-200 (Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor), CWE-377 (DEPRECATED: Insecure Temporary File)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-1740?

7 open source packages ship an affected version, including ansible. It affects 6 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `ansible` | PyPI | All versions | 2.7.17, 2.8.9, 2.9.6 |
| `ansible` | PyPI | All versions | 2.7.17 |
| `ansible` | PyPI | All versions | 2.7.17 |
| `ansible` | PyPI | From 2.8.0a1 | 2.8.11 |
| `ansible` | PyPI | From 2.8.0a1 | 2.8.11 |
| `ansible` | PyPI | From 2.9.0a1 | 2.9.7 |
| `ansible` | PyPI | From 2.9.0a1 | 2.9.7 |

Products: Debian Debian Linux, Fedoraproject Fedora, Redhat Ansible, Redhat Ansible Tower, Redhat Cloudforms Management Engine, Redhat Openstack.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-1740?

Upgrade ansible to a fixed version for your release line: 2.7.17, 2.8.9, 2.9.6 or 2.8.11.

## Is CVE-2020-1740 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-1740 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

- [CVE-2015-3306](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3306/): ProFTPD Improper Access Control (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-49113](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-49113/): RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.9, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-24061](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24061/): GNU InetUtils Argument Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-39682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39682/): Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-9680](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9680/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-1740 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-1740 is a low-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 16 Mar 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-1740 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- ansible (PyPI): affected all versions; fixed in 2.7.17, 2.8.9, 2.9.6
- ansible (PyPI): affected all versions; fixed in 2.7.17
- ansible (PyPI): affected all versions; fixed in 2.7.17
- ansible (PyPI): affected from 2.8.0a1; fixed in 2.8.11
- ansible (PyPI): affected from 2.8.0a1; fixed in 2.8.11
- ansible (PyPI): affected from 2.9.0a1; fixed in 2.9.7
- ansible (PyPI): affected from 2.9.0a1; fixed in 2.9.7

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-1740/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-1740/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-1740
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-1740
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-1740

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-1740/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.