CVE-2026-123036 A flaw was found in ansible-core

Description

A flaw was found in ansible-core. When a task marked `no_log: true` fails, the task result is censored before being emitted, but the `exception` field is retained because it is present in the PRESERVE allow-list in lib/ansible/_internal/_task.py, and the default stdout callback prints it through CallbackBase._handle_exception. As a result, sensitive values the operator explicitly asked to hide can be disclosed: module argument-validation errors echo the argument value, templating errors print an Origin source snippet (the failing line plus the two preceding lines of the variables file, exposing neighbouring secrets from an -e @secrets.yml file), and fail/assert messages are printed in full. Secret material supplied as extra variables or variables files can therefore leak to terminal output, CI logs, and the stdout logs of any automation wrapping ansible-playbook, even though every task touching the secrets is marked no_log: true. This is a regression introduced with the ansible-core 2.19 data-tagging/templating rework; the behaviour does not occur on 2.16, where the error text is correctly censored.

Exploitable with local access to the machine, with an ordinary account and without any user action; an attacker can seriously compromise confidentiality, integrity or availability.

Attack vector

Local

Attack complexity

Low

Privileges required

Low

Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

None

Availability

None

Affected products and versions