# CVE-2026-90959: Path traversal in Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2

> Authenticated users can bypass file URL validation to read arbitrary server files, potentially stealing container registry signing keys to forge access tokens.

- **Severity:** High 8.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 24 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 21 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-mfxv-9hc5-3jv3

## What is CVE-2026-90959?

CVE-2026-90959 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2, published on 24 Sep 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A path traversal vulnerability was found in pulpcore. The content upload API accepts a 'file_url' parameter that allows users with file repository privileges to specify a local file URL for Pulp to download and store. A URL scheme validation check uses a string prefix comparison that only rejects URLs beginning with 'file://', but Python's URL parser recognizes the 'file:' scheme without double slashes, creating a mismatch between what is validated and what is dispatched to the file downloader. An authenticated user with low-privilege repository permissions can supply a specially crafted URL using relative path traversal sequences to read any file accessible to the Pulp server process. In deployments that include Pulp Container, successful exploitation allows an attacker to read the container registry token signing private key and forge bearer tokens, granting unauthorized access to all private container repositories in the affected registry.

Weakness: CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-90959?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-90959?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-90959 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-90959 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-90959 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-90959 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-90959 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2, published on 24 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-2026-90959 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2. 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-2026-90959/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-90959/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-90959
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-90959
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-90959

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-90959/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.