High · CVSS 7.8CVE-2026-16493

Ansible-core: argument injection in ansible-galaxy collection install via git clone (incomplete fix for cve-2026-11332)CVE-2026-16493

Answer in brief

CVE-2026-16493 records a High severity (CVSS 7.8) vulnerability in Ansible-core: argument injection in ansible-galaxy collection install via git clone (incomplete fix for cve-2026-11332). The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. The current feed maps Red Hat/ansible-core (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.

Analysis pending evidence review

HOL Guard separates source facts from reviewed analysis. See the methodology.

Published Jul 21, 2026Updated Sep 4, 2026Source checked Oct 19, 2026First seen by HOL Sep 3, 2026Material review Sep 4, 2026

Upstream Advisory

Key facts

Risk: High · CVSS 7.8
Exploitation: Not marked as known exploited
Affected software: 1 mapped package or product
Fix availability: Not reported

Why this deserves its current priority

CVSS is 7.8. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. Treat this as a source-backed prioritization signal, not a statement about your environment.

Analysis status

Analysis pending evidence review

Factual feed record only; HOL analysis is not approved for indexing. Read the methodology.

Affected scope and exposure questions

The current feed maps Red Hat/ansible-core (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.

Mapped affected packages and fixed versions
Package	Affected range	Fixed version
Red Hat/ansible-coregeneric	*	Not reported

Recommended response

Check inventory. Check lockfiles and deployed manifests for Red Hat/ansible-core.
Review the reported fix. Source-reported workaround: The following practices would help for avoiding exposure and mitigate this flaw: 1. Do not install Ansible collections from untrusted or unverified git sources. Only install collections from trusted sources such as Ansible Galaxy (https://galaxy.ansible.com), Red Hat Automation Hub (https://console.redhat.com/ansible/automation-hub), or verified internal repositories using HTTPS URLs. 2. Carefully inspect any requirements.yml files before running 'ansible-galaxy collection install -r requirements.yml'. Verify that all collection sources use legitimate HTTPS URLs and do not contain git+ prefixed URIs with suspicious characters (especially values starting with '-'). 3. Ensure your system's git version is 2.12 or later, which disables the ext:: transport by default. While this does not fully prevent exploitation (the -ccore.sshCommand technique bypasses transport restrictions), it eliminates one of the exploitation vectors. 4. Restrict the GIT_ALLOW_PROTOCOL environment variable to only necessary protocols (e.g. https, ssh) and never include 'ext' unless absolutely required.

Evidence timeline and material changes

Published upstream
Jul 21, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:record
Source modified
Sep 4, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:record
First seen by HOL
Sep 3, 2026

Sources and claim methodology

Upstream source description

A flaw was found in ansible-core. The _extract_collection_from_git() function in ansible-core's concrete_artifact_manager.py constructs git clone commands without a '--' (end-of-options) separator before user-supplied URLs when installing collections from git sources. An attacker who provides a crafted collection source URI containing git argument injection payloads can achieve arbitrary command execution when a user runs 'ansible-galaxy collection install' with the malicious source. This is an incomplete fix for CVE-2026-11332, which hardened the role install path but missed the equivalent collection install code path.

Quoted source text, attributed separately from HOL analysis.

Package

Affected range

Fixed version

Red Hat/ansible-coregeneric

Not reported

Recommended response

Check inventory. Check lockfiles and deployed manifests for Red Hat/ansible-core.

Review the reported fix. Source-reported workaround: The following practices would help for avoiding exposure and mitigate this flaw: 1. Do not install Ansible collections from untrusted or unverified git sources. Only install collections from trusted sources such as Ansible Galaxy (https://galaxy.ansible.com), Red Hat Automation Hub (https://console.redhat.com/ansible/automation-hub), or verified internal repositories using HTTPS URLs. 2. Carefully inspect any requirements.yml files before running 'ansible-galaxy collection install -r requirements.yml'. Verify that all collection sources use legitimate HTTPS URLs and do not contain git+ prefixed URIs with suspicious characters (especially values starting with '-'). 3. Ensure your system's git version is 2.12 or later, which disables the ext:: transport by default. While this does not fully prevent exploitation (the -ccore.sshCommand technique bypasses transport restrictions), it eliminates one of the exploitation vectors. 4. Restrict the GIT_ALLOW_PROTOCOL environment variable to only necessary protocols (e.g. https, ssh) and never include 'ext' unless absolutely required.

Sources and claim methodology

Upstream source description

Quoted source text, attributed separately from HOL analysis.