# CVE-2026-84691: Information disclosure in Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8

> An administrator can exploit format string injection in API error logs to disclose Django secret keys and database credentials, enabling credential decryption and session forgery.

- **Severity:** High 8.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/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-xrjh-rfcr-rxj7

## What is CVE-2026-84691?

CVE-2026-84691 is a high-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

A flaw was found in Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform's automation-
controller. The setting that formats the log message emitted for API 4XX errors
is an administrator-controlled Python format-string template that is rendered
with a live user object as an argument. Because Python string formatting permits
attribute and item traversal on its arguments, an administrator can craft a
template that walks from the user object into the application settings and reads
the Django secret key and the database password. The formatted message is written
to a logger that can be forwarded to an external log aggregator, whose destination
is also administrator-controlled, allowing the secrets to be sent off the host. An
authenticated administrator can thereby obtain the master encryption key used to
protect all stored credentials and the database service password, enabling offline
decryption of every stored credential, forgery of user sessions, and direct
access to the controller database.

Weakness: CWE-134 (Use of Externally-Controlled Format String)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-84691?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-84691?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-84691 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-84691 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-84691 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-84691 is a high-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-2026-84691 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-2026-84691/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-84691/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-84691
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-84691
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-84691

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-84691/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.