CVE-2026-84718 Automation-controller: automation-controller: client ip spoofing in audit/access logs via unrestricted x-forwarded-for trust

Description

A flaw was found in the Ansible Automation Platform automation-controller. In the shipped production configuration, the Controller trusts the client-supplied X-Forwarded-For header as the request's client IP without verifying that it originated from a trusted proxy, and selects the leftmost (attacker-controlled) header value. As a result, an attacker can forge the source IP address recorded for their requests in the Controller's audit and access logs, degrading the integrity of forensic and SIEM attribution. The flaw does not grant additional access.

Exploitable remotely over the network, with an ordinary account and without any user action; the impact on data or service is limited.

Attack vector

Network

Attack complexity

Low

Privileges required

Low

Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

None

Integrity

Low

Availability

None

Affected products and versions