What happened
An authorization bypass was found in the Ansible Automation Platform (AAP) gateway. The gateway API allows an authenticated administrator to create a new service key for the Controller service cluster. Because service-key creation is not restricted to the installer-provisioned provisioning path, an administrator-issued key is cryptographically indistinguishable from a legitimate one and can be used to forge a service-authentication token that impersonates the Controller service. Combined with the gateway OIDC workload-identity endpoint (enabled via FEATURE_OIDC_WORKLOAD_IDENTITY_ENABLED), the attacker can drive the gateway to sign Workload Identity Tokens (WITs) for arbitrary Controller workloads. A downstream resource server such as HashiCorp Vault that trusts the gateway OIDC key will accept the forged WIT and return the AAP credentials bound to that workload, disclosing secrets beyond the attacker's authorization boundary.
Affected versions
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 9: See vendor advisory Fixed: See vendor advisory.
Why it matters
Review the vendor advisory and exposure of the affected product to determine operational impact.
Detection & mitigation
- Apply vendor-provided updates or mitigations.
- Review affected product exposure and access logs.
Public PoC references
No public PoC reference has passed the current publication threshold.