# CVE-2026-84716: Security feature bypass in Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8

> Administrators can obtain long-lived, non-revocable mesh certificates for impersonated hostnames, enabling TLS interception of control nodes in managed deployments.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.6 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:L/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-hcpg-prc4-w26w

## What is CVE-2026-84716?

CVE-2026-84716 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

A flaw was found in the automation-controller instance
                  install-bundle endpoint. When a System Administrator downloads
                  an execution/hop node's install bundle, the controller signs an
                  X.509 certificate with the receptor mesh certificate authority
                  in which the Common Name, DNS subject-alternative-name, and
                  receptor node-id are taken verbatim from the caller-chosen
                  instance hostname, with a hard-coded ten-year validity, a random
                  serial, and no issuance log or revocation list. Because the
                  hostname charset validator is case-insensitive while the
                  uniqueness validator is case-sensitive, an administrator can
                  register a case variant of an existing control node's hostname
                  and obtain a mesh-CA-signed certificate that TLS peers, which
                  match hostnames case-insensitively, accept as that control node.
                  In managed/hosted deployments — where the customer holds
                  controller superuser but the platform operator runs the mesh —
                  this yields a long-lived, non-revocable mesh peer credential and,
                  with an on-path position, TLS impersonation or interception of
                  control/hybrid mesh nodes. It does not grant direct remote code
                  execution, because receptor work submission is gated by a
                  separate signing key not included in the bundle.

Weakness: CWE-266 (Incorrect Privilege Assignment)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-84716?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-84716?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-84716 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-84716 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-84716 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-84716 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-2026-84716 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-2026-84716/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-84716/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-84716
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-84716
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-84716

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-84716/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.