# CVE-2026-84474: Privilege escalation in Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 8

> Attackers can escalate privileges and execute code on managed hosts by exposing secrets and spoofing headers in Ansible Automation Platform.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.9 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 23 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 24 Sep 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-2mcj-95p4-49mv

## What is CVE-2026-84474?

CVE-2026-84474 is a critical vulnerability in Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 8, published on 23 Sep 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A flaw was found in Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform's automation-
controller. The provisioning-callback secret (host_config_key) is exposed to
users holding only the read-level view_jobtemplate permission -- both in the
job template API representation and in the activity stream -- and the
provisioning callback endpoint trusts a client-supplied X-Forwarded-For
header to determine the calling host when the controller is deployed behind
the AAP gateway with an empty proxy allow-list. By reading the secret and
spoofing X-Forwarded-For to match any host in the job template's inventory, a
minimally privileged or unauthenticated remote attacker can launch the job
template against arbitrary managed hosts using the job template's credentials,
resulting in privilege escalation and remote code execution on managed hosts.

Weakness: CWE-807 (Reliance on Untrusted Inputs in a Security Decision)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-84474?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-84474?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-84474 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-84474 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-84474 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-84474 is a critical vulnerability in Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 8, published on 23 Sep 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-84474 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 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-2026-84474/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-84474/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-84474
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-84474
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-84474

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-84474/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.