# CVE-2026-71462: Information disclosure in Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8

> Tenant superusers can determine the existence of arbitrary files on the controller pod via path validation responses, potentially revealing sensitive configuration details.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 23 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 16 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-8936-fch2-2279

## What is CVE-2026-71462?

CVE-2026-71462 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8, published on 23 Sep 2026. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

StringListPathField.to_internal_value() calls
              os.path.exists() on unbounded user-supplied paths.
              200 vs 400 response reveals existence of arbitrary
              absolute paths on the controller-web pod. Tenant
              superuser can confirm /etc/tower/SECRET_KEY, k8s
              service-account token, receptor sockets, ConfigMap
              mount points. Mainly impactful on managed AAP
              (ansiblecloud.com) where tenant admin != host admin.

Weakness: CWE-204 (Observable Response Discrepancy)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-71462?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-71462?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-71462 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-71462 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-71462 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-71462 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8, published on 23 Sep 2026. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-71462 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

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-2026-71462/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-71462/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-71462
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-71462
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-71462

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-71462/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.