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OpenAdvisories
Medium · 6.6 CVE-2026-84716 EUVD-2026-85611GHSA-hcpg-prc4-w26w

Automation-controller: automation-controller: instance install_bundle issues 10-year, non-revocable receptor mesh-ca certificates for caller-chosen (and case-variant impersonating) hostnames

Published Sep 23, 2026 · Updated Nov 6, 2026 · Assigned by redhat

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.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Red Hat Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8 — —
Red Hat Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 9 — —
Red Hat Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 9 — —
Red Hat Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 — —
Red Hat Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.7 — —

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform Inside 2 receptor 1.6.8-1.el8ap RHSA-2026:71114, RHSA-2026:71113
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform Developer 2 automation-controller +1 4.7.17-1.el9ap RHSA-2026:71113
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform Developer 2 python-sqlparse +1 0.6.0-1.el10ap RHSA-2026:71113
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform Developer 2 python3.12-sqlparse 0.6.0-1.el8ap RHSA-2026:71114, RHSA-2026:71113
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform Developer 2 receptor 1.6.8-1.el8ap RHSA-2026:71114, RHSA-2026:71113
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 automation-controller +3 4.7.17-1.el9ap RHSA-2026:71113
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 automation-controller-venv-tower 4.6.33-1.el8ap RHSA-2026:71114, RHSA-2026:71113
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 automation-gateway-proxy-server 2.5.10-8.el8ap RHSA-2026:71114, RHSA-2026:71113
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 automation-gateway-server 2.5.20260923-1.el8ap RHSA-2026:71114
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 automation-platform-ui 2.6.14-1.el9ap RHSA-2026:71113
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 python-sqlparse +1 0.6.0-1.el10ap RHSA-2026:71113
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 python3.12-gitpython 3.1.60-1.el8ap RHSA-2026:71114, RHSA-2026:71113
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 python3.12-sqlparse 0.6.0-1.el8ap RHSA-2026:71114, RHSA-2026:71113
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2 receptor 1.6.8-1.el8ap RHSA-2026:71114, RHSA-2026:71113

Advisories 3

References